European Rural Development Policies in Extremadura · European rural development policies in Extremadura Francisco José Malavé Tosina 2 Abstract This paper explores the efficiency

European Rural Development Policies in

Extremadura

Master Thesis Project

Francisco José Malavé Tosina

Supervisor: Jesper Willaing Zeuthen

MSc. European Studies

Aalborg, August 2016

European rural development policies in Extremadura Francisco José Malavé Tosina

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Abstract This paper explores the efficiency of rural development policies in the European Union. Concretely

the programmes LEADER and PRODER in the Spanish region of Extremadura from 1991 to 2013.

Extremadura is a predominantly rural region with low levels of development in socio-economic

terms in relation to Spanish and European standards. During the second half of the twentieth

century, the region experienced a massive rural flight to Spanish industrialised regions, namely

Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque country, and to industrialised central European countries, like

Germany, Switzerland and France.

The European Rural Development policy was created in 2000 as a “second pillar” of the Common

Agricultural Policy (CAP). The main objective is to act directly in rural areas for the strengthening of

economic, social, environmental and cultural development of rural Europe besides the direct

payments to farmers carried out under the framework of the CAP. Currently, the rural development

policy is structured in seven-years programmes of rural development based on the regional or

national level. However, the initiatives of rural development LEADER and PRODER have been

implemented since 1991 introducing a new approach to development. The LEADER methodology is

based on the principles of integrated, sustainable and endogenous development as well as the

policy implementation model “bottom-up”. The LEADER rural development programmes are

designed and implemented by the Local Action Groups, formed by social and economic agents of

the rural area. These programmes were pioneers on the field of rural development in the European

Union.

The initiatives LEADER and PRODER have been implemented in Extremadura since 1991 with diverse

results. The rural areas have experienced a relevant development, improving the quality of life and

economic indicators. However, the unemployment rate is nowadays very high and therefore the

rural exodus is still persistent.

The theory of webs is a new theoretical approach based on the social network theories that links

the rural development to the development of the web of interconnections between the different

elements (social, natural, economic, etc.) that form a rural area. This theory had been developed

from the conclusions of the analysis of 62 rural development programmes in the European Union.

Regarding this approach, some hypotheses are formulated and the theory is applied to the case in

the analysis in order to identify the reasons of the low effectivity of LEADER and PRODER initiatives

in Extremadura.


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Table of contents 1. Introduction and Problem Formulation ..................................................................................................................... 6

2. Methodology .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

2.1 Methodological Considerations ........................................................................................................................ 7

2.2 Case Study Research ....................................................................................................................................... 10

2.3 Data Collection ................................................................................................................................................ 11

2.4 Research Strategy ............................................................................................................................................ 12

3. Theory ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14

3.1 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................................................... 14

What is a rural area? .............................................................................................................................. 14

Rural Development, Endogenous Development and Integrated Rural Development ........................... 14

Rural flight .............................................................................................................................................. 15

Globalisation vs. Localisation ................................................................................................................. 16

3.2 Theory of Webs ............................................................................................................................................... 16

Formulation of Hypotheses .................................................................................................................... 21

Criticism to the Theory of Webs ............................................................................................................. 22

3.3 Alternative Theoretical Approach ................................................................................................................... 22

4. Overview .................................................................................................................................................................. 24

4.1 EU Rural Development Policies ....................................................................................................................... 24

An EU Objective ...................................................................................................................................... 24

Evolution ................................................................................................................................................. 26

4.2 Extremadura .................................................................................................................................................... 37

General Information ............................................................................................................................... 37

Economy ................................................................................................................................................. 38

Rural Extremadura: Characterisation and Rural Flight ........................................................................... 41

4.3 Implementation of Rural Development Initiatives in Extremadura ................................................................ 44

LEADER I (1991-1994) ............................................................................................................................. 44

LEADER II and PRODER I (1994-1999) ..................................................................................................... 45

LEADER+ and PRODER II (2000-2006) ..................................................................................................... 48

LEADER 2007-2013 ................................................................................................................................. 50

4.4 Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 50

5. Analysis .................................................................................................................................................................... 55

6. Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................................. 59

6.1 Perspectivation................................................................................................................................................ 60

7. Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................. 61


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List of Figures Figure 1 Embed data (Adaptation from Creswell and Clark 2006, 7) .................................................. 9

Figure 2 Deductive Research (Adaptation from Blackstone 2012, 2) .................................................. 9

Figure 3 Research strategy ................................................................................................................. 12

Figure 4 Typology of rural regions: dynamics (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 5) .............................. 19

Figure 5 Theoretical dimensions of the web (Adaptation from Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 7) .... 20

Figure 6 Evolution of the CAP (European Commission 2016 b) ......................................................... 25

Figure 7 Milestones in the Evolution of the Rural Development policies ......................................... 26

Figure 9 New structure of the CAP after 2003 reform (European Commission 2008, 6) .................. 34

Figure 10 Structure of the Rural Development Policy after 2005 (European Commission 2008, 8) . 35

Figure 11 Maps of Extremadura (Gobierno de Extremadura 2014 and 2010) .................................. 37

Figure 12 LEADER I in Extremadura (REDEX 2016) ............................................................................ 44

Figure 13 LEADER II (orange) and PRODER I (blue) in Extremadura (REDEX 2016) ........................... 45

Figure 14 LEADER + (orange) and PRODER II (blue) in Extremadura (REDEX 2016) .......................... 48

Figure 15 LAGs in Extremadura during LEADER 2007-2013 (REDEX 2016 b, 4) ................................. 50


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List of Abbreviations

EPA Encuesta de Población Activa | Active Population Survey CAP Common Agricultural Policy CMO Common Market Organisation EAFRD European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development EAGGF European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund EEC European Economic Community EIB European Investment Bank ERDF European Regional Development Fund ERDN European Rural Development Network ESF European Social Fund ETUDE Enlarging Theoretical Understanding of Rural Development EU European Union EUR Euro EURES EURopean Employment Services FAO Food and Agriculture Organization GDP Gross Domestic Product INE Instituto Nacional de Estadística | Spanish National Statistics Institute IRYDA Instituto Nacional de Reforma y Desarrollo Agrario | Spanish National

Institute for Agricultural Reform and Development LAG Local Action Group LAP Local Action Plan LEADER Liaisons entre activités de Developement de L'Economie Rural | Links

between actions for the development of the rural economy NUTS Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statis OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PRODER Programa Operativo de Desarrollo y Diversificación Económica de Zonas

Rurales | Operative Programme of Development and Economic Diversification of the Rural Areas

PTA Peseta REDEX Red Extremeña de Desarrollo Rural | Extremaduran Rural Development

Network REDR Red Española de Desarrollo Rural | Spanish Rural Development Network SME Small and Medium Enterprise


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1. Introduction and Problem Formulation Extremadura is a region located in the South-West of Spain. With a density of population of 26

inhabitants/Km2, the region is considered a rural area according to the definition given by the OECD.

Traditionally Extremadura has been a region with low levels of development in socio-economic

terms in relation to Spanish and European standards. Due to the living conditions, the lack of jobs

and the low rents generated by the agriculture, Extremadura experienced during the second half of

the twentieth century a massive rural migration (rural flight) to Spanish industrialised regions,

namely Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque country, and to industrialised central European countries,

like Germany, Switzerland and France in lower proportion.

The European Rural Development policy was created in 2000 as a “second pillar” of the Common

Agricultural Policy (CAP). The main objective is to act directly in rural areas for the strengthening of

economic, social, environmental and cultural development of rural Europe besides the direct

payments to farmers carried out under the framework of the CAP. Currently, the rural development

policy is structured in seven-years programmes of rural development based on the regional or

national level. However, the initiatives of rural development LEADER and PRODER have been

implemented since 1991 introducing a new approach to development. These programmes were

pioneers on the field of rural development in the European Union.

Spain is a member of the European Union since 1986. Since that year, European Rural Development

policies have been applied in the region of Extremadura. Nowadays, the Extremaduran GDP per

capita represents 63.8% of the EU average and the unemployment rate is 29%. 11% of the jobs in

Extremadura belong to the agriculture sector, this is a higher rate than Spanish and European

averages. And the problem of the rural flight is still present in the region, provoking the

depopulation of rural areas which has a negative impact on the economic development and the

environmental conservation of the region.

This paper will try to identify the reasons behind the low success of rural development strategies

regarding the rural flight.

Why after more than 20 years of European Rural Development policies in Extremadura the Rural

flight has not been stopped?


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2. Methodology In this chapter the methodology that will guide the research is described. According to van Manen,

“a methodology refers to the philosophical framework and the fundamental assumptions of

research” (Creswell and Clark 2006, 4).

In the first section, the methodological considerations is exposed, the worldview on which the study

is based, followed by the research design and the analysis structure. The second section contains a

description of the structure of the paper and the research strategy. The methods that are used in

the research are described in the third section. And finally, in the fourth section the data sources

are described.

2.1 Methodological Considerations

Pragmatism The worldview proposed in this study is pragmatism. It is an open worldview that can have different

interpretations, but generally is defined “as a worldview that arises out of actions, situations, and

consequences rather than antecedent conditions (as in positivism)” (Creswell 2014, 10). The

researcher focuses on the search of solutions to the problems using all available tools. The scope is

on the findings and not on the methods, thus mixed methods research is the most appropriate

research design in this worldview.

Peirce, Mead and Dewey are the main authors from whose work emerged this worldview. Other

relevant authors within the field are Murphy, Patton, Rorty and Morgan (Creswell 2014, 10-11).

Pragmatic researchers try to identify consequences by the exposition of a broad knowledge of the

situation. Social actions and own ideas have a place in the pragmatic research prior to the

application of methods, theories, etc. The study itinerary and the followed methodology will be

guided by the preferences of the researcher (Cherryholmes 1992, 13).

Pragmatism is linked to mixed methods research design that combine qualitative and quantitative

data in order to find knowledge about the problem. Thus, the pragmatic worldview is not limited by

any particular philosophy. Researchers can choose the methods and research strategies that better

fit to the study object without taking into account pre-defined statements by a concrete worldview

(Creswell 2014, 11).

The reality, according to a pragmatic worldview, is not uniform, it is rather complex, therefore it is

necessary to use different research methods, different systems for data collection and analysis in

order to collect as much information as possible of the problem, both qualitative and quantitative


For the purpose of this research pragmatic worldview has been chosen because this paper will try

to approach the rural development from all possible perspectives in order to reach the best

understanding of the situation. Regarding the matter of rural development and the case that will

set the scope on the Spanish region of Extremadura, the data available is limited and at some extents

to see the whole picture it will be necessary to use both quantitative data (statistics), but also


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qualitative (academic research, normative). Assuming that the rural is a complex object of study

that needs to be approached from multiple perspectives, different methods will be applied.

Furthermore, rather than focusing on the precedents to the current situation, the actions that are

carried out and its effects will be object of study. Peirce, James, Mead and Dewey are the main

authors within this philosophical worldview (Creswell 2014, 11).

The philosophical view previously explained is reflected on the research through the research design

that is the link between the worldview that inspires the paper and the concrete methods that are

used (Creswell and Clark 2006, 4).

Mixed Methods Research Following the pragmatic philosophical approach, the chosen research model has been mixed

methods research. According to Creswell, this kind of research design is at the same time

methodology and method. This means that as methodology, mixed methods research leads the

study through collecting and analysing data from qualitative and quantitative sources in the

different stages of the study. As method, it sets the scope on the collection, the analysis and the

merging process of data of different nature (qualitative and quantitative). Mixed methods research

relies on a general assumption; the combination of qualitative and quantitative data generates a

better understanding of the situation and it leads in a better way to find solutions to the problem

that is object of the study (Creswell and Clark 2006, 5). The research initiates presenting quantitative

data that provides a general vision of the situation and after, qualitative data is exposed in order to

interpret this reality and provide a whole picture of the reality that can lead to a better knowledge.


This type of research design has received other names regarding the author, “such as integrating,

synthesis, quantitative and qualitative methods, multimethod and missed methodology” (Creswell

2014, 217).

The origins of mixed methods design are in the 1960s and 1970s with authors like Campbell and

Fiske (1959), Sieber (1973), Jick (1979), and Cook and Reichardt (1979) in a formative period in which

the utilisation of combined different kind of data (quantitative and qualitative) was introduced as

well as different processes of data combination, and the combination of different methods like

interviews and surveys. The next period of development of this research methodology model is the

paradigm debate period that took place during the 1980s and 1990s with authors like Rossman and

Wilson (1985), Bryman (1988), Reichrdt and Rallis (1994), and Greene and Caracelli (1997). In this

period the debate between different traditions (purists, situationalists and pragmatists) in regards

of the combination of different methods took place. During the late 1980s and 1990s, procedural

development period, mixed methods research design experienced the period of biggest

repercussion with authors like Greene, Caracelli and Graham (1989), Morse (1991), Creswell (1994)

and Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998). Different typologies of mixed methods were introduced in this

third period of evolution. The last period in which different positions where exposed and the

methodology was introduced in other fields of study and expanded to other countries (this research

design was born and developed in the United States) took place during the decade of 2000, with


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authors like Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003) and Creswell (2003) (Creswell and Clark 2006, 14)

(Creswell 2014, 217-218).

The main strength of mixed methods research is the possibility of using combined data of different

nature avoiding the weaknesses that the use of quantitative or qualitative data independently may

present and given the availability of both quantitative and qualitative data it allows the use of both.

At the procedural level, among other strengths, the possibility of a better understanding in relation

to the effectivity of development strategies through the collection of all kinds of data is especially

relevant for the topic of this paper (Creswell 2014, 218).

The type of mixed methods research that will be used in this research is the embedded mixed

methods. The embedded mixed methods consists in a collection of data of different nature under

the framework of a general project that is being carried out. It is the case of researches that are

developed on the fields of education or health with the purpose of studying the effectivity of a plan

or project that is being implemented. Depending if the data is collected before and after or during

the experiment, it will be sequentially or convergent. This paper will analyse the effectivity and

effects of development initiatives in European rural areas and all available data, derived from tests

and studies of these programmes, will be merged and analysed (Creswell 2014, 227-228).

Figure 1 Embedded data (Adaptation from Creswell and Clark 2006, 7)

Finally, it must be remarked that mixed methods research requires to researchers an intensive work

of data collection, being necessary to have knowledge about both qualitative and quantitative data,

as well as the necessary analysis of both kinds of data.

Deductive Analysis The analysis will be done following a deductive structure. The deductive analysis begins with the

selection of a theory that is perceived as suitable regarding the research problem, followed by the

formulation of hypotheses. In the next step, data is collected (qualitative and quantitative in the

case of this paper) in order to test the theory and its effectivity when applied to the research

problem supporting the formulated hypotheses or not. Thus, the deductive approach goes from a

general framework to the concrete problem. (Blackstone 2012, 2)

Figure 2 Deductive Research (Adaptation from Blackstone 2012, 2)


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2.2 Case Study Research The method that has been chosen to conduct this paper research is Case Study. This method is used

in many areas of study, but mainly in evaluation, and consists on a comprehensive analysis of a

programme, plan, event, procedure, persons etc. The cases are objects of study, part of a wider

reality, that are delimited by the time and space (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 14).

In this paper, the research topic is the European rural development policies, a broad field of study,

therefore the case focuses on a specific programme (programmes with LEADER methodology), a

specific territory (the Spanish region of Extremadura) and a concrete period of time (from 1991 to

2013).

According to Yin, Case Study Research is recommended when the following conditions are present:

- The research problem is based on a why or how question

- The researcher does not have any influence in the development of the reality of study

- The research object is a current situation and not a historical event

The research in this paper meets these three conditions, a why question, an external study object

(the rural development programmes implemented in Extremadura) and a “contemporary

phenomenon” (these policies continue nowadays, that is why it is necessary to delimitate a time

period of study) (Yin 2014, 2).

The case study design can follow to different typologies, single-case design or multiple-case design.

Single-case design is recommended in researches that study a single analysis and under five

different rationales, critical, unusual, common, revelatory or longitudinal cases. On the other hand,

Multiple-case study is more appropriated in those researches covering more than one case, for

instance an educational research evaluating a new learning system through five different schools

(Yin 2014, 51-53).

This research will analyse the implementation of rural development policies in Extremadura during

the mentioned period as a whole without making differences between areas or periods because the

research topic responds to the longitudinal rationale. Longitudinal rationale is applied when the

case consists on an evolution of a concrete policy and the research will observe the conditions that

affect the implementation of the policy as well as its results over the time setting different periods

of the process. This periods may be fixed from before, which is the case of the programmes of rural

development that will be presented differentiating the different stages of the implementation. If

the chosen theoretical approach works in the concrete case, these time periods will reflect the

propositions of the theory (Yin 2014, 51-53).

A single-case study can present one or more elements or units of analysis. Thus, regarding the units

of analysis, the single-case study will be holistic or embedded. A holistic is the best type when within

the case study sub-units of analysis cannot be identified, when it is a homogeneous object. However,

if the case presents different sub-units of analysis, the model will be embedded. An example of

embedded single-case analysis is a hospital that is object of a research and the analysis will focus on

the different departments in order to find general conclusions. In the case of this paper, the object


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of study will be analysed as a whole, but taking into consideration the different periods of

implementation and the two different programmes (LEADER and PRODER), although the practical

differences between them are irrelevant since both followed the same methodology, were

implemented during coincident periods and were complementary (Yin 2014, 54-56).

2.3 Data Collection Under the framework of mixed methods research, the literature is presented in a coherent way

consistently with the theoretical approach that is about to be applied. In case of studies that start

with an exposition of quantitative data, it continues including qualitative data that can provide a

rationale support to the research problem and hypotheses (Creswell 2014, 30).

Quantitative data is the one that can be measured by the use of statistical procedures (Creswell

2014, 4). Qualitative data analysis follows procedures that imply interpretations and cannot be

measured empirically, relying on text and image description. (Creswell 2014, 183)

In this paper, the literature and data are presented in chapter 4 (Overview) starting with a

description of the evolution of European rural development policies since the creation of the EEC in

1957, followed by information about the region of study and the implementation of the

development programmes in Extremadura. All this process is described using qualitative data which

is supported by quantitative data, both primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources are those containing first-hand information and original data about a reality.

Legislation, historical documents, interviews, surveys, experiment reports or audio and video

records are examples of primary sources (University of Victoria 2016). In this research three kinds

of primary sources are used: normative documents (European, national Spanish and Extremaduran

legislation), statistics (namely from the Spanish Institute of Statistics) and publications released by

the European Union and other entities related to the rural development policies.

Secondary sources are those that interpret, analyse, discuss, criticise or modify primary sources.

Academic articles in journals, news or books are examples of secondary sources. (University of

Victoria 2016) For a more complete understanding of the policy evolution, the situation of

Extremadura, and the implementation of the programmes, secondary sources have been used such

as Nieto (2007), Fitzgerald (1997), Fischler (2016), Rodríguez (2011), Gurria (2009) or García (2014).

The last section of the overview, “4.4 Results”, is an exposition of different academic work where

the process of implementation of the rural development policies in Extremadura, as well as its

characteristics and impacts, are analysed. The studies of authors like Nieto (2014), Nieto and

Cárdenas (2015), Esparcia (2000) and Gurria (2009), contribute to the Overview chapter presenting

a more detailed picture of the situation with conclusions, analyses and interpretations of the reality

of the more than 20 years of implementation of rural development policies in Extremadura. Mixed

methods research allows the researcher through the combination of qualitative and quantitative

data to acquire a better knowledge about the object of study.


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2.4 Research Strategy

Figure 3 Research strategy

This paper starts with a brief introduction of the research topic, providing the reasons that have led

the researcher to approach this matter. It starts with a short presentation of the Spanish region of

Extremadura and the most relevant factors that condition its reality. A small reference to the

European development policies and finally the problem statement connecting both elements,

Extremadura and the rural development policies. This chapter pretends to create in the reader the

necessary interest to going through the paper by the presentation of the key elements and the

research question:


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Why after more than 20 years of European Rural Development policies in Extremadura the Rural

flight has not been stopped?

The second chapter presents the methodology that will be followed through the research with a

first section of Methodological considerations (pragmatic worldview, mixed methods research and

deductive analysis). Following this, the next section presents the case study research design and the

motivations for choosing it. The section 2.3 describes the data collection data and the sources that

have been used in the research work differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative data.

In the third chapter the theories are exposed. In a first section, the conceptual framework is defined,

these concepts will have a strong presence through the whole paper, such as rural area, rural

development or rural flight. The theory that will be applied in the analysis is exposed in the second

section, the theory of webs. The theory of webs is a new approach that links directly with the object

of study because is a theoretical framework specifically developed for the field of European rural

development polices. This theoretical approach is based on the theories of social networks and has

developed a completely new way to analyse this object of study. Therefore, currently the literature

development of this approach is limited and most of it is released by the authors that have designed

the theory. Following, hypotheses will be formulated intending to give an answer to the research

question basing on the theoretical principles. Furthermore, chapter 3 offers a section of criticism to

the chosen theoretical approach (by applying general criticism to social networks theories to the

specific approach) and a section presenting an alternative theory that could have been applied in

the analysis, the theory of integrated rural development.

The fourth chapter, the Overview, contains in first place the evolution of the rural development

polices in Europe since its origins until its current situation, followed by a section where the general

characteristics of Extremadura, as well as the economic structure and the characterisation of the

rural areas are exposed. The next section describes the implementation of LEADER and PRODER

programmes in Extremadura during four different periods of action. Finally, the section “4.4

Results” presents an overview of the main researches that have been done previously on this topic

and this region in order to have a better understanding of the situation.

In the Analytical chapter, the theory of webs will be tested through its application on the

information that form the Overview chapter. The intention of the Analysis is to find evidences that

can support or not the hypotheses that were formulated in the theoretical chapter trying to give an

answer to the research question. As it is explained in the methodology this analysis will embed both

qualitative and quantitative data.

In the Conclusion section, the main conclusions will be summed up providing an answer to the

question that motivated this research work.

A small section with perspectivation will follow including possible use of the alternative theory

proposed as well as presenting a line of investigation that can give a continuation to the present

paper.


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3. Theory This chapter presents in the first section the conceptual framework. In the second section the theory

that will be applied in the analysis to the research case, the theory of webs, is described, followed

by formulation of hypotheses and criticism of the theory. Finally, an alternative theoretical

approach, the theory of integrated rural development is presented. The theory of webs have been

chosen over other theoretical approaches, such as the alternative presented here, due to its higher

relation to the object of study reflecting all the aspects of the LEADER methodology.

3.1 Conceptual Framework

What is a rural area? Rural area is a concept that has been defined in different directions attending to different

parameters. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) identifies a rural

area as “areas in which more than 50% of the population lives in rural communes. Rural communes

are those with density of population below 150 inhabitants/km2” (European Parliamentary Research

Service Blog 2012).

This definition provided by the OECD has only been used by some national and regional European

Rural Development Programs during the period 2007-2013.

Some regions or members states have adopted a different definition due to various reasons such as

the limitation of this definition to reflect the socio-geographical diversity of the European Union,

the willingness for more precise differentiation between rural and urban areas, the adoption of

former local definitions, or the intention to use an identification system oriented to policy priorities

of the concrete development area. The result of this use of different parameters to identify a rural

area, is that wider territories and more population are classified as rural (European Parliamentary

Research Service Blog 2012).

In the case of Spain, the Law of Sustainable Development of the Rural Areas establishes the following

definition of rural area. Rural area is the geographic area formed by the sum of localities with a

population below 30,000 inhabitants and a density below 100 inhabitants/km2. According to this

law, localities with a population below 5,000 inhabitants that are integrated in the rural

environment are considered rural localities (Ley para el desarrollo del medio rural 2007, Art 3).

In 2000 the Government of Extremadura approved the concept of rural area of Extremadura as all

the regional territory excepting the cities of Badajoz, Cáceres and Mérida (Consejería de Agricultura

y Medio Ambiente 2001, Art. 2).

Rural Development, Endogenous Development and Integrated Rural

Development The concept of Rural Development as well as other related concepts, must be explained for a proper

understanding of the matter.

According to the Sector Policy Paper “Rural Development” released by the World Bank in 1975, rural

development is the “process through which rural poverty is alleviated by sustained increases in the


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productivity and incomes of low-income rural workers and households”. With this definition, the

World Bank emphasizes the relevance of raising incomes and outputs of local production instead of

simply achieving a better distribution of the present resources among the population. However it

adds that this must be an essential element of development strategies (World Bank 1975).

Another related concept is endogenous development, which addresses different theoretical

researches that appeared in the decade of 1980. Endogenous development emphasizes the

importance of the outcome of an economic system without the influence of external factors (Romer

1994, 3). Thus, this approach seeks to promote the internal capacities of a community in order to

strengthen the society and its economy from inside to outside without external dependency with

the purpose of making it sustainable in the time. According to Vázquez, endogenous development

is an approach that encompasses a series of visions of development within the same theoretical and

development policies scope based on the territory. There are different approaches of endogenous

development that are compatible and complementary (Vázquez 2007, 206).

Integrated rural development is a methodological approach that seeks the inclusion of rural

disadvantaged social groups into the dynamic of raising the living conditions. The scope for this

objective is set on both economic and social intervention. This method proposes the assessment of

the concrete situation on the factors listed below and the identification of weaknesses.

Factors to be assessed:

a) Natural resources,

b) Human resources,

c) Social organisation,

d) Economic structure,

e) Technology,

f) Institutional organisation,

g) Services

It must be considered the interrelation between all these factors in order to elaborate a bundle of

measures that designed according to the specific characteristics of a concrete area (Kuhnen 1977).

Rural flight Rural flight, also called Rural Exodus, is a migratory model in which the inhabitants from rural areas

migrate to urban areas. Generally, the forces that cause rural flight are voluntary and are based on

better “job opportunities in cities, housing conditions, rural land tenure and inheritance patterns,

rural social structure and cultural values, among other factors” (McCatty 2004, 9).

Nowadays, rural flight is a relevant phenomenon that implies the abandonment of rural areas as

well as economic sectors linked to them, mainly farming. For the first time in history, in 2007 urban

population exceeded rural population in the world. A FAO report from 2006 calculates that in the

last half century, 800 million people have migrated from rural to urban areas (Bianco 2016).

In the European context, the main cause of rural flight was the industrial revolutions of the 19th

century, mainly in England, and the second half of the 20th century in other western European


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countries. This situation, coincided with an increment of the productivity in farms, which meant a

decrease of necessary labour. In the last three decades of the 20th century, the weight of the

agriculture in the economy of western European countries continued decreasing, falling from 10.28

to 3.31% on average for the initial six members of the European Economic Community (EEC) (Bianco

2016).

Globalisation vs. Localisation When approaching the development policies it is important to distinguish between Globalisation

and Localisation.

Globalisation is a concept that even though is relatively modern (it was first used in 1930 in the

publication Towards New Education) (Kaurinkoski 2011, 125), has had several and sometimes

contradictory definitions. However, for the purpose of this research it will be used the concept given

by Viotti and Kauppi (2013), that defines globalisation as the progressive rise of the social, economic

and cultural networks that go beyond states’ borders and have relevant consequences on the

political sphere. The advances in technology contribute to the development of this network of

interactions. However, the effects of Globalisation are not homogenous to every society, country or

social group (Viotti and Kauppi 2013, 4).

Due to the multiple side-effects that Globalisation presents, Localisation emerges in the USA as a

new concept. The rise of economic globalisation produces that multinational companies take

control of the market and due to its dimension beyond boundaries it is perceived by local society as

a democratic deficit and damage to local economy. Citizens’ movements during the decade of 1990

began to perform different actions against multinational companies in order to preserve local

economy and to have political and economic influence in their communities (Pitchon 1997).

On the development policy field, Localisation is a new perspective that promotes a greater

prominence of local agents in the management of the development programmes becoming them

the protagonists of their own development process. Although it exists this dichotomy between

global and local, recently it has been promoted the connection between local strategies through the

use of new technology enhancing the globalisation of the localisation and therefore the exchange

of best practices. (Nieto 2007, 25)

These principles will have a strong influence in the LEADER methodology.

3.2 Theory of Webs The theoretical approach of webs is based on the Social Networks theories framework, which has

its origins in the 1950s with the authors John Barnes and J. Clyde Mitchell. Barnes is the first who

introduced this new concept in 1954 in the research Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island

Parish (University of Twente 2016).

The rural development initiatives have been carried out without taking into account a pre-

established theoretical approach. This is the idea that was exposed in 2000 by a group of authors of

Social sciences in an article in the publication Sociologia Ruralis. In 2006, the OECD also expressed

the necessity of having “a new research agenda in rural development” since the traditional


17

theoretical schemes were unable to approach the new realities on the field of rural development

that was a growing policy at many levels, European, national, regional and local. Alongside, social

sciences were experimenting a transformation with the introduction of new elements for the study

of new situations (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 1). In the last decade of the XX century, an important

shift took place on the field of sociology regarding the research of social performance. In previous

decades social life had been studied through the use of static and generic structure models.

However, a new approach was introduced; social life cannot be studied as a static reality from

outside. This model taken from the natural sciences is not valid in social research, since “Social life

is both explanans and explanandum”, in other words, to explain the performance of the social group

the analysis must take place from inside and must take into account all the elements that are

interrelated and interconnected between them and constantly evolving (Ploeg and Broekhuizen

2008, 16).

Furthermore, departing from the idea that a vital rural world is necessary for the existence of the

agricultural activity and vice versa, as well as the current relevance of diversification of the rural

economy for the revitalisation of rural regions in Europe, the European Commission in the document

6th Framework Programme promoted the analysis of the new realities within the rural development.

The document sets the interdependences and interactions between the different elements that

form the rural areas (agriculture, natural resources, society, economy, etc.) as the core element of

this new theoretical framework (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 1).

This new theory developed by a group of authors, co-ordinated by Jan Douwe van der Ploeg from

Wageningen University (The Netherlands), is the result of an extensive research carried out under

the project ETUDE (Enlarging Theoretical Understanding of Rural Development) which developed a

theoretical and methodological framework through the analysis of 62 cases of rural development

initiatives in 62 European regions (Ploeg 2009).

The core concept of this approach is the web, which is defined as “the pattern of interrelations,

interactions, exchanges and mutual externalities within rural societies” (Ploeg and Broekhuizen

2008, 2). These interdependences and interrelations take place in the rural area between the

farming sector, the social and economic environment and the dynamics of rural development. Thus,

the interactions of these actors form the web that shapes the dynamic that they follow. The authors

present a hypotheses: the economic development of a rural area will be delimited by the evolution

of the web.

In regards of this theory, a rural area is the space where man and nature meet, interact and shape

each other through both traditional rural activities, such as farming and forestry, and new rural

modes of economic diversification of the rural economies, such as rural tourism or agriculture

related manufactures. This process of interaction is called “co-production”. Co-production has an

impact on the natural environment (influence on ecosystems), but also influences in the way that

social, economic and institutional life are developed at the local level. It can be stated that the

nature and man follow a parallel path of evolution in the rural area (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008,

2-3).


18

Over the last decades, European rural areas have experimented an important transformation due

to a shift in the co-production dynamics. Firstly, the agriculture has declined and the rural areas

have become a place where other activities take place, such as tourism or other services. This has

been called the shift of rural areas from being a “place of production” to a “place of consumption”.

Secondly, the relation man-nature has changed, especially in the case of new modes of agricultural

exploitation, which in some cases have resulted in the abandonment of the natural resources (for

instance, landscapes are abandoned to set a stabled livestock) or even the damage, (case of

agriculture under plastic or intensive fishery for example) (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 2-3).

Ploeg argues that rural development goes beyond the economic growth. Rural development

consists in the reallocation of the rural world in a prevalent position, re-appreciating its essential

value in the life of society. Rural development is the result of connecting the rural economy and

rural resources, being these two concepts related to the co-production concept (Ploeg and

Broekhuizen 2008, 3).

The reposition of the rural is necessary due to the historical trajectory that have led to the current

situation. In the post-war Europe of mid XX century, the depression of rural areas and the rapid

industrial development in the cities, provoked a large rural exodus with the consequence of the

abandonment of the agriculture in many areas and therefore the connection man-nature. The

consequence is the search for new links and types of interrelation man-nature in order to recover

the rural areas, this is rural development (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 3).

Five ideal types of rural regions were identified during ETUDE research:

- Specialised agricultural areas: areas with a strong agriculture system, intensive and

mechanised. The rest of activities in the local economy are not in connection with the

agriculture.

- Peripheral areas: where agriculture was never a relevant economic sector or it is falling at

the moment, with rural exodus and impoverishment as main consequences.

- New rural areas: where both farming and other sectors of a diversified economy develop at

the same time as part of the same evolution. A relevant characteristic in new rural areas is

the important presence of multi-product companies.

- Segmented areas: in this cases, agriculture is developing as well as other sectors of the rural

economy but without interconnections. Instead of multi-product companies, there exist

enterprises that offer services without connections between themselves.

- New suburbia: areas where farming activity is falling. There are appearing new dynamics of

establishment of the population and economic activities, due to the influence of big urban

agglomerations.

- Dreamland: this is an extra category characterised by unforeseen rises and falls conditioned

by changing parameters. It is the case of luxury touristic zones where the popularity of the

area changes unpredictably and fast.

(Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 4-5)


19

Figure 4 Typology of rural regions: dynamics (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 5)

The Figure above represents the dynamics that follow the types of rural regions listed before.

According to this view, rural areas are in a constant evolution and reshaping due to the performance

of the elements that form the web.

The web is the result of the interconnections between the elements that form the rural areas. When

these interconnections increase, the density of it increases as well. Furthermore, this actors belong

to different levels, regional and local, therefore the web is multilevel and the more interconnections

between different levels the more widespread the web is. Depending on the concrete region, the

web is different, it can be observed great differences in the composition and performance of

different webs. Webs are not a static reality, they are rather in a constant evolution and the rises

and falls of the rural area as a whole are determined by the performance of the web (Ploeg and

Broekhuizen 2008, 6).

According to the theory of webs, rural development cannot exist if there is not a co-evolution of the

web alongside. Therefore, policies and actions must be objective-oriented, the only ones able to

influence the development of the web (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 6).

The web is composed by six different dimensions, which from a theoretical point of view can be

identified, but from an empirical vision the separation of these dimensions is not possible due to

the constant and multiple interdependences that are taking place between them. These categories

of dimensions have been designed following the concrete characteristics of European rural areas.


20

Figure 5 Theoretical dimensions of the web (Adaptation from Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 7)

- Endogeneity: addresses the origin of the natural resources that are used in the relations of

co-production. The degree of competitiveness of a rural area economy will depend of the

degree of endogeneity.

- Novelty of production: ability of a rural area to introduce elements of innovation in the

processes of co-production.

- Sustainability: addresses the capacity of restoration of resources and time survival of the

model.

- Social capital: capacity to co-operate within the area in order to achieve common goals.

- Institutional arrangements: societal elements that set a framework within the co-production

take place, establishing rules, limits, customs, etc. It can be identified at the local and

regional institutions.

- Governance of markets: ability of the network to place in the markets and monetise the local

products.

(Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 7-9)

The web intends to become a useful element for the analysis of rural areas in order to identify and

understand the success or failure of the rural development strategies. Thus, knowledge about best

practices on rural development can be enlarged and there can be formulated hypotheses regarding

the performance of each of the dimensions that form the web. The ETUDE programme by the

Web

Endogeneity

Novelty production

Sustainability

Social capital

Institutional arrangements

Governance of markets


21

analysis of 62 study cases in different areas of Europe, had some conclusions regarding the

performance and configuration of the web. In all the cases the six dimensions could be perceived,

however, the great heterogeneity between webs makes that the presence of the dimensions can be

completely different from one rural region to another. The only rural development strategies that

succeed are those in which all the dimensions have an implication, being unsuccessful those plans

or actions of rural development where the scope was singularly set on a concrete dimension. This

analysis methodology has allowed as well to identify the reasons of failure in rural development

strategies. (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 9-10)

The diversification of the rural economy in recent decades in Europe has followed two different

paths, the first is the creation of new enterprises carrying out alternative activities to the traditional

ones; agriculture, livestock, fishery and forestry. The second model of diversification has been the

multifunctional enterprises, this is when farms diversify its activity by the introduction of new

products and services. The second itinerary, has been proved to be more efficient due to savings in

the cost of production as well as the rise in the productivity of the enterprise’s capital. (Ploeg and

Broekhuizen 2008, 18)

Another relevant concept to understand the performance of the web is the “capital”, the different

dimensions are in a higher or lower degree related to one or more kinds of capital, these are natural,

social, economic and cultural. The sum of all kinds of capital form the territorial capital. (Ploeg and

Broekhuizen 2008, 11)

Summing up, the theory of webs approaches the rural world through the concept of web, which is

formed by all interrelations of co-production (man-nature) that take place in the rural region. After

the application of this concept to the analysis of 62 cases in Europe, a theoretical framework has

been developed. Six different dimensions have been identified as elements of the web, and five

different ideal typologies of rural region have been described. This theory, links the rural

development to the activity and development of the web, which must be approached as a sum of

interrelated elements, that cannot be separated, and that can only be explained from inside due to

particularities and constant evolution. The rural development is the result of the development of

the web, therefore the application of rural development strategies goal-oriented that take into

account the participation of all dimensions of the web as well as the concrete characteristics of this

can lead to the repositioning of the rural within the wider society, the modification of the declining

trends that the rural economies experience and finally the improvement of the quality of life.

Formulation of Hypotheses According to the theory of webs and in connection with the research problem of this paper,

hypotheses can be formulated.

Preliminary, the main conclusions extracted from the development of this theoretical approach,

lead to answer the question “Why after more than 20 years of European Rural Development policies

in Extremadura the Rural flight has not been stopped?” in the following ways:

- If the economic development of a rural area is delimited by the evolution, it might be that

the failure factor in the Rural Development programmes implemented in Extremadura is the


22

performance of the web that is integrated by all interconnections between physical, societal

and economic elements present in the region.

- Following the previous statement, the rural development is only produced if alongside there

exists a development of the web. It might be that the rural web in Extremadura is not in

evolution towards rural development.

- If only those rural development initiatives that imply all the six dimensions of the webs are

successful, it might be that the lack of success of rural development actions in Extremadura

is the lack of implications of every dimension forming the web.

In the analysis chapter, the theory will be tested and these hypotheses proved or rejected.

Criticism to the Theory of Webs Although there cannot be identified specific criticism to the Theory of Webs, since it is a theory of

recent creation, this theoretical approach is based on the theoretical field of social networks that

has a longer academic development on the field of sociology. Therefore, the criticism of the theories

of social networks, that approaches the social research by the study of networks of nodes, can be

applied to the Theory of Webs.

The theories of social networks base the analysis on the study of the interrelations between nodes,

however it does not takes into account the space between the nodes, this is all the elements that

are present in the reality of the network but do not take part of the interrelations (Mejias 2016).

From the point of view of the rural development, this critic would mean that the Theory of Webs

sets the scope of study on the interrelations between the elements that form the web, this is the

elements of the rural region or community, however the study of external conditions, that are not

a direct consequence of the interconnections that happen in the web, are ignored.

The reality is continuous, on the contrary the social networks are not. Although a network is very

developed and ramified, there is always gaps between nodes, space that is not approached because

it is not part of the network itself (Mejias 2016).

Vandenberghe argues that approaching the social life as a social network composed by nodes that

are interrelated, has an effect of reduction of the complexity of human relations and dehumanises

these interrelations observed as simply exchange relations, no matter which kind of capital is the

object of this exchange (social, natural or economic). Thus, the reduction of social relation to an

exchange scheme has as consequence that “the economy is no longer embedded in the society…

society is embedded in the economy”. (Vandenberghe 2002, 58) Following this idea, rural webs

might fall in the mistake of not taking into account the particularities of human relations that go

beyond the logics and rules of market exchange.

3.3 Alternative Theoretical Approach The theory of integrated rural development was developed by Gusztáv Nemes (2005) from the

Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academic of Sciences.

This approach tries identify common failures or rural development initiatives and solutions in order

to strengthen the efficiency. All elements intervening in the rural development process are taken


23

into account and two different levels of the rural development policies are identified: the level of

policies and the level local aspirations. These typology reflects two models of rural development,

the central bureaucratic (top-down) and the local heuristic (bottom-up) that should cooperate in

the policy making and implementation, but that often results in impositions of the central

bureaucratic through the development process. This lack of integration between the two models

leads to the failure of the development initiatives (Nemes 2005).

“The tendency to disjunction between the two basic socio-political systems of rural development is

the main reason for the failure of rural development policy” (Nemes 2005).


24

4. Overview This chapter aims to provide a detailed description of the object of study. In the first section, EU

Rural Development policies, the evidences of rural development as an objective of the EU will be

explained, followed by the evolution of the rural development policies since 1975 with the creation

of the European Regional Development Fund till the Rural Development Programme for the period

2007-2013. In the second section general information about Extremadura, the Spanish case study

region, followed by a description of the economic structure and the characterisation of the rural

areas of the region. Finally, the third section describes the implementation of rural development

programmes with LEADER methodology during four different periods in Extremadura.

4.1 EU Rural Development Policies Rural development has been an objective of the EU since the creation of the EEC, however it was

not until 1975 when rural development was addressed specifically. This section presents the

evolution of rural development as an objective of the EU policies.

An EU Objective Since the creation of the European Union, the development of the rural areas has been a priority

for the European institutions. Although in 1957, when the Treaty of Rome was signed and therefore

the EEC created, the concept of Rural Development did not even exist yet, the promotion of rural

areas was already an objective, essential to reach a balanced economic development of the EEC.

In the Treaty of Rome the Common Agricultural Policy is created with the goal among others of

“ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the

individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture” (EEC 1957, article 39.1.a). This is the origin of

the Rural Development policies.

The interest of the funding member states of the EEC in promoting the development of rural areas

is evident. However, in that time, rural areas are for the legislator mainly means of agricultural

production, being the referred article the only reference to social aspects of the agricultural policies

in the Treaty.

The CAP is the European policy for the promotion and support of the Agriculture. It was created in

1962 as a tool to assure the food supply to the European society after a decade of food-shortages

after World War II.


25

Figure 6 Evolution of the CAP (European Commission 2016 b)

Initially, the main goal was the food security, assuring food supply of the European population at

reasonable prices with European products. Therefore, during the 1960s, the CAP relied on

supporting prices with the purpose of improving the productivity, as well as stabilising the market.

Sectoral market organisations were created for the regulation of the different agricultural products,

such as oil, milk, different kinds of meat, etc (Nieto 2007, 34).

During the 1970s and 1980s, some criticism emerged due to some negative consequences that arose

during the initial period of the CAP. These are overproduction, high economic cost of the policy and

international frictions caused by an autarchic system. The Mansholt Plan stated that the

modernisation of farms was necessary in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector as

well as the self-sufficiency of farmer (European Commission 2016).

The resources allocated to the agriculture did not have a relation with the social and economic

development of the agricultural areas. These areas were still the least developed of the EEC with an

increasing unemployment, rural flight, especially of best prepared young people, loss of services

and environmental vulnerability (Nieto 2007, 34).

Furthermore, the accession of new countries with a big agricultural sector and with social and

economic characteristics different to those of the founder states (United Kingdom, Greece, Ireland,

Portugal and Spain) made necessary a reform of the CAP. However, the Mansholt Plan was rejected

(Nieto 2007, 34).

Nevertheless, the necessity for reforms made possible the emergence of the Rural Development as

a new concept that complements the agricultural development. In order to adjust the living


26

standards of rural areas to urban average, it was necessary to diversify the economy of these areas

by promoting alternative economic activities such as tourism, services or industry (Nieto 2007, 34).

Evolution

Figure 7 Milestones in the Evolution of the Rural Development policies

First steps In 1975 it was created the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that serves as financial tool

for the Rural Development initiatives among others. The general objective of the ERDF is to

contribute to the socio economic cohesion and the regional unbalances (European Commission

2016 c).

In 1983 it was released by the European Council the European Charter of Territorial Management,

which seeks through the territorial management, the balanced socio-economic development of the

regions, the living standards improvement, the sustainable management of the natural resources

and the environment protection as well as the rational use of the territory (Council of Europe 1983,

3).

In 1985, the Green Paper of the Commission “Perspectives for the Common Agricultural Policy” goes

into detail about the new approaches of the CAP regarding the promotion of the diversification of

rural economies (Commission of the European Communities 1985).

The Single European Act, signed in 1986, created the European Single Market and it sets as a priority

goal the social and economic cohesion between the different territories of the Community through

a harmonious development. The same article lists the Structural Funds as financial instruments of

the European Investment Bank (EIB) for this policy area, these are the European Agricultural

Guidance and Guarantee Fund – EAGGF and the European Social Fund – ESF, ERDF (European

Economic Community 1986, Art. 130 A,B).

As it is referred before, the Iberian enlargement in 1986 brought to the EEC an increased number of

regions with dissimilar characteristics on economic and social terms. Furthermore, the introduction

of the Single Market meant a risk of deteriorating even more the situation of the least-favoured

regions in the Community, due to the side-effects of the market liberalization. Thus, it was necessary

a reform of the Structural Funds in order to strengthen their efficiency.

1975 ERDF

1983 European Charter of Territorial

Management

1985 Green Paper

"Perstpectives for the CAP"

1986 SEA1988 Reform of Structural Funds

1988 The Future of Rural Society

1991 LEADER I

1994 LEADER II

1996 PRODER

1996 Cork Declaration

1997 Agenda

2000

2000 LEADER +

2000 PRODER II

2007 EAFRD


27

The reform, which was concluded in 1988, introduced a series of guidelines for the Regional Policy:

a) Plans submitted by Member states linked to Funds’ goals,

b) Collaboration in the implementation of different institutional levels (State, region and

municipalities),

c) Possibility of combine with other policies of the Community,

d) Focus on the least-favoured regions for resources allocation,

e) Different instruments of the Community combined.

Another important change is the transition from supporting individual projects to the necessity of

elaboration of programmes of regional development by the National authorities according to the

objectives of the different funds. The programmes should be in line with general principles of

environmental protection and competition policies at State and EEC level. The budget, in general

for the Structural Funds and for the least-prosperous regions in particular, was doubled with the

purpose of allocating up to 80% of the ERDF budget to Objective 1 regions. In this regard, the reform

created a classification of objectives to the Structural Funds as listed below:

Objective 1: development of least-favoured regions (ERDF, ESF, EAGGF)

Objective 2: industrial conversion (ERDF, ESF)

Objective 3: long-term unemployment reduction (ESF)

Objective 4: promotion of youth employment (ESF)

Objective 5 (a): modification of agricultural structures (EAGGF)

Objective 5 (b): Rural areas development (EAGGF, ERDF, ESF)

Objectives 1, 5 (a) and 5 (b) are more specially related to rural development, but strictly 5 (a) is only

focused to the agricultural activity and not to other elements of rural development. In case of

objective 1, the eligibility criteria requires regions with GDP per capita below 75% of EEC average

and special cases. For being eligible for Objective 5 (b) actions, the region must present a high share

of agricultural unemployment, low agricultural rents, low levels of social and economic

development as well as other factors such as loss of population (Fitzgerald 1997, 18-20).

In 1988, a communication of the Commission, “The Future of Rural Society” expresses clearly the

shift from an agricultural economic policy oriented to another based on the diversification of the

economy of rural areas as a principle for the Rural Development. In this context, the Commission

classifies the rural areas according to three different characteristics:

Rural regions under pressure of rising urban areas

Declining rural areas

Specially marginalised areas

In order to face these three problems, the Commission presents different specific measures but a

common methodology. All actions in rural areas must be developed from a local perspective and

must be based on the diversification of the rural economy. These are the main principles of the

programmes LEADER and PRODER (Commission of the European Communities 1988, 5-8).


28

LEADER I The result of the evolution described previously, is the creation of a Programme as the main

initiative for the Rural Development. The programme is called LEADER (Liaisons entre activités de

Developement de L'Economie Rural, which in English means Links between actions for the

development of the rural economy). The first phase of this programme was conceived as a pilot

experience and 217 European rural areas took part. (Red Española de Desarrollo Rural 2016)

The LEADER I initiative is launched by the Commission of the European Communities in 1991

through the Notice to Member States 91/C 73/14 for the period 1991-1994 basing on Article 11 of

the previously approved Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 of 19 December 1988, laying down

provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards coordination of the activities

of the different Structural Funds between themselves and with the operations of the European

Investment Bank and the other existing financial instruments. LEADER I is designed as a programme

of assistance in form of integrated global subsidies for the recovery of the social and economic

balance in European rural areas. According to the Communication, the methodology has an

endogenous and local approach where the two main elements are the Local Action Groups (LAG)

and the Local Action Plans (LAP) submitted by them (Commission of the European Communities

1991, Art. 2-3).

The LAG’s are appointed by the Member State and are formed by local economic and social agents

who must have an active participation in the activity of the groups. The group has a number of

permanent staff responsible for the implementation of the LAP. Selected groups must have local

character and represent a rural area with a population between 5 000 and 100 000 inhabitants

within a territory smaller than the NUTS III1 (Commission of the European Communities 1991, Art.

11).

The activities that can be recipients of subsidies in the framework of LEADER I are

- Technical Assistance for the Rural Development,

- Vocational training and promotion of the employment,

- Rural Tourism,

- Small enterprises, craftwork and local services;

- Manufacturing and commercialisation of agricultural, forestry and fishery production

- Up to 10% of the budget for other activities proposed by LAG’s to promote Rural

Development.

(Commission of the European Communities 1991, Art. 13)

All regions objective 1 and 5 (b) are eligible to participate in the Initiative (Commission of the

European Communities 1991, Art. 11).

1 Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS) is a system for the geographical subdivisions in the European Union Member States for statistical purposes. The subdivision NUTS III is instrumental in the Structural Funds of the

European Union.


29

The budget for the first phase of the Programme was EUR 417 million. The financing sources for

LEADER I were ERDF, ESF and EAGGF-Guidance (Fischler 2016, I.14).

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) finances infrastructures, productive investments

for promotion of employment, local development projects and assistance to SME’s.

The European Social Fund focuses on the financing of actions to promote employment of

unemployed people and disadvantaged social groups through the implementation of vocational

training among other actions.

The EAGGF-Orientation promotes the economic diversification of the agricultural sector,

modernization of agricultural structures and environmental preservation (Nieto 2007, 38).

The main principles of the programme are the prevalence of LAG’s as core-elements of LEADER I,

the implementation of LAP’s for a specific rural area, Multi-sectoral approach based on the

diversification of rural economy with the global goal of strengthening rural development, co-

financing of the actions by the Commission, the Member State and/or the regional authorities and

networking between recipient rural areas across Europe (Fischler 2016, I.15).

Regarding the criticism about LEADER I initiatives, the main weaknesses were the poor implication

of the public Administration in some cases and the lack of connections between LEADER and other

rural development initiatives in a global strategy (Fischler 2016, I.18).

Cork Declaration In 1996, the Rural development conference “Rural Europe – Future perspectives”, held in Cork

(Ireland) issued a declaration that sets the main principles of the Rural Development policies. The

Cork Declaration is structured in 10 points as following:

1- Rural Preference

2- Integrated Approach

3- Diversification

4- Sustainability

5- Subsidiarity

6- Simplification

7- Programming

8- Finance

9- Management

10- Evaluation and Research

(Rural Development Conference "Rural Europe - Future Perspectives" 1997)

The most relevant aspects that the Declaration highlights is the settlement of Sustainable Rural

Development as a priority objective for European policies, territorial dimension of rural

development policies implemented in a multi-sectoral mode through the diversification of the

economy, emphasis on the sustainable character of all actions carried out in the framework of rural

development policies, methodology based on the principle of subsidiarity that consists in a


30

decentralised planning and implementation of the programmes with collaboration of all

administrative level and a clear protagonist role of the rural communities (bottom-up),

simplification of the legislation, programmes of rural development for each region as structure of

the policy implementation, promotion of the use of local financial resources as complement,

management of the actions from a local or regional level and evaluation of programmes and

research based on results to improve techniques and procedures (Rural Development Conference

"Rural Europe - Future Perspectives" 1997).

LEADER II In 1994, the European Commission released the Notice to Member States 94/C180/12, which

established the guidelines for LEADER II for the period 1994-1999. LEADER II maintained the same

principles and objectives of LEADER I in general. However, for the new period it was intended to

strengthen the aspects related to innovation as well as networking.

LEADER II aimed to promote the innovative character of the Actions carried out in any field of the

economy of the rural areas. In order to stimulate the spread of the knowledge generated in the

successful experiences, the document proposed the creation of a European Rural Development

Network (Commission of the European Communities 1994, Art. 6-7).

The allocated budget for this period was EUR 1,755 million and more than 1,000 rural areas

benefited from the program (Fischler 2016, I.14).

The main limitations of the LEADER II initiative were the bureaucratic difficulties and the excessive

dissemination of resources in some States, as well as poor networking between LAGs (Fischler 2016,

I.18). According to the Commission, the result were in some cases not very effective plans due to

some weaknesses, such as the delay in the selection of participant LAGs and therefore the

implementation of the LAPs, establishment of not consistent LAGs, excessive administrative

procedures and excessive dissemination of the financial resources (European Commission 2000, Art.

5).

PRODER I In 1996, it was passed by the European Commission the Decision C (96) 1.454 of June 18th that meant

the creation of a complementary program to LEADER II at the national level in Spain for the period

1995 - 1999. PRODER, the Operative Programme of Development and Economic Diversification of

the Rural Areas in Objective 1 Regions, is a development initiative with mostly the same objectives

as LEADER II; the promotion of endogenous and sustainable development of rural areas through the

economic diversification in order to fight the rural flight improving the living conditions of the local

population and the environmental conservation.

The reason of PRODER is the big demand of participation in LEADER II by several rural areas

throughout Spain after the successful experience of LEADER I. Thus, those rural bodies that were

excluded in LEADER II could have an alternative programme with PRODER. The main differences

between LEADER II and PRODER were the more relevant role of the Regional administration on the

monitoring activities and the finances sources, which in PRODER were EAGGF-Guidance and ERDF,

as well as State and Regional administrations and private initiative.


31

PRODER was an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, that during the 1990s

experienced a process of transferring competences both to the EU and to the Autonomous Regions.

Therefore, according to Esparcia, the Ministry entered a process of search of a new role and status

of the institution. The creation of PRODER following the LEADER methodology was one of the actions

carried out by the Ministry in order to revitalise its role on the field of Rural Development. It meant

as well an answer to the big demand generated by LEADER II. 240 applications were submitted to

the Ministry of Agriculture to participate in PRODER and finally, 132 LAGs were approved (Esparcia

2000, 202).

The activities for the rural development that could be co-financed by PRODER are:

- Appreciation of the local heritage

- Promotion of tourism

- Support to SME’s and craftwork and services activities

- Appreciation of the productive potential of agriculture and forestry

- Vocational training activities

The total budget of PRODER was PTA 84,823 million (~EUR 510 million) and a total of 96 LAGs took

part affecting 1,764 Spanish municipalities (21, 8%) (Red Española de Desarrollo Rural 2016 b).

Agenda 2000 The Agenda 2000 was planned at the Madrid European Council in 1995. In this Summit, the Heads

of State and Government requested to the Commission the elaboration of a paper to assess a future

enlargement as well as a study of the financial system of the European Union and a strategy for the

future on this field taking into account the future Eastern enlargement.

The result was the Communication (97) 2000 of 16th July 1997 “Agenda 2000: For a stronger and

wider Union”. The paper analyses the upcoming development of the Union and polices, as well as

the structural reforms necessary for the enlargement and opinion on the accession of the ten

applicant states from Eastern and Central Europe. Furthermore the Agenda 2000 determined the

financial strategy for the period 2000-2006 (Commission of the European Communities 1997, 4).

The Agenda 2000 introduces the Rural Development as a new specific action of the European Union

as the second pillar of the CAP, differentiated to the first strictly agricultural based on the regulation

of agricultural production through the Common Market Organisations (CMO). As part of the Agenda

2000, the financing sources of the rural development policies are restructured for the new period

in the Regulation (EC) 1260/1999 of the Council 21 June. This Regulation created a new classification

for the regions of the Union regarding the levels of development:

- Objective 1: regions with a GDP per capita below the 75% of the EU average. Promotion of

the development of less-favoured areas of the European Union through the investment on

infrastructures (transport, telecommunications, education and health) as well as the

diversification of the economy in other fields. The 70% of the funds was allocated for these

regions, which represented the 22% of the population of the EU.


32

- Objective 2: regions facing an economic or social restructuration (industry, services, decline

rural areas, regions dependant of the fishery in reconversion, problematic urban areas, etc.).

Promotion of the development of economic alternatives to the declining traditional

activities. These regions represented the 18% of the European population. The 11.5% of the

funds is budgeted for this Objective.

- Objective 3: regions not included in Objective 1. All activities for the promotion of human

resources (vocational training programmes, promotion of the employment, social economy,

etc.) in regions not included in Objective 1. The 12.3 % of the budget was allocated for this

Objective.

(Council of the European Union 1999, Art. 3-5, 7)

LEADER+ LEADER+ is the Rural Development programme for the period 2000-2006 and it is regulated by the

Commission Notice to the Member States of 14 April 2000 C 139/05. As in previous periods, the main

objective is the promotion of innovative initiatives with new sustainable and endogenous

development approaches that can be tested as pilot experiences and can contribute to the rural

development of the European Union. LEADER+ emphasised the innovative and experimental

character that should have the submitted LAPs.

LEADER+ sought to promote the “long-term potential” of the participating rural areas, through

original initiatives in line with the three following goals:

- Appreciation the natural and cultural heritage

- Strengthening the local economy in order to enhance job creation

- Improvement of local organisational skills

As in LEADER II, LEADER+ promoted the creation of networks between the different LAG across

Europe, at regional, national and European level. The reason of this, is the cooperation between

local development agents for the spread of successful experiences and best practices (European

Commission 2000, Art. 8).

The eligibility criteria of the areas for the application of LEADER+ was different than in LEADER I and

II. In this case all rural areas were eligible, but only a limited number of initiatives would be chosen

in order to give proper financing to the best proposals. Each territory, at the regional or national

level could restrict the programme to certain rural areas (European Commission 2000, art. 9-10).

The main financing source of the Programme was EAGGF-Guidance, as well as the national, regional,

local administrations and the private initiative in some cases. The contribution of EAGGF-Guidance

for the period was budgeted at EUR 2,020 million (Red Española de Desarrollo Rural 2016 c).

LEADER+ is structured in three categories of action:

- Action 1. Pilot strategies for the integrated rural development based on the rural area

- Action 2. Cooperation between the rural areas

- Action 3. Networking


33

The Action 1 is the most relevant regarding the share of 86.75% of the funds allocated for it. It

consists on the classical LEADER approach, the LAPs implemented by the LAGs. The LAGs must be

integrated at least at 50% by social partners and associations (European Commission 2016 d). 893

LAGs from all across EU 15 took part of the Initiative covering areas with a sum of 52 million

inhabitants. Furthermore, more than 300 transnational and approximately 900 inter-territorial

cooperation projects were launched linking LAGs from different regions or Member States

(European Commission 2008, 16).

PRODER II The Initiative PRODER was relaunched for the new period of action 2000-2006 in Spain.

The objectives of PRODER II are the endogenous and sustainable development of the rural areas

and the strengthening and diversification of their economy, as well as fighting the rural exodus and

the conservation of the environment and natural resources.

The methodology followed in PRODER II is similar to the one in LEADER being the LAGs the main

recipients of the funds. The LAGs should select projects to be co-financed by PRODER II in the rural

area. The actions to be promoted in the framework of this programme are based on the Article 33

(“Promoting the adaptation and development of rural areas”) of the Council Regulation (EC)

1257/1999 of 17th May on support for rural development from the EARDF and amending and

repealing certain regulations:

- “land improvement,

- re-parcelling,

- setting-up of farm relief and farm management services,

- marketing of quality agricultural products,

- basic services for the rural economy and population,

- renovation and development of villages and protection and conservation of the rural

heritage,

- diversification of agricultural activities and activities close to agriculture to provide multiple

activities or alternative incomes,

- agricultural water resources management,

- development and improvement of infrastructure connected with the development of

agriculture,

- encouragement for tourist and craft activities,

- protection of the environment in connection with agriculture, forestry and landscape

conservation as well as with the improvement of animal welfare,

- restoring agricultural production potential damaged by natural disasters and introducing

appropriate prevention instruments,

- financial engineering.”

(Council of the European Union 1999, Art. 33)


34

162 rural areas benefited from PRODER II. The financing sources were the European Structural

Funds as well as public and private contributions at the national, regional and local level. In the case

of the European Funds, the areas in Objective 1 regions were financed from EAGGF-Guidance and

those out of Objective 1 regions received resources from EAGGF-Guarantee. Furthermore there is a

small participation of ERDF (Red Española de Desarrollo Rural 2016 d).

Dislike LEADER+, the initiatives carried out in the framework of PRODER II do not need to be

innovative and potentially able to be implemented in other territories. The LAGs do not need to

base their strategies on pilot experiences. Finally, the areas participating in LEADER+ are not eligible

in PRODER II excepting those in the Autonomous Regions of Madrid and Andalusia (Red Española

de Desarrollo Rural 2016 d).

CAP Reform 2003 Following the establishment of the Rural Development as the second pillar of the CAP, the reform

carried out in 2003 emphasised the complementarity of the two pillars through the mechanisms of

“decoupling, “cross-compliance” and “modulation” that meant the mobility of funds between the

two pillars. With the reform of 2003, the second pillar intervenes in the agriculture due to its

environmental and rural component as well as the development of the rural areas. New goals are

introduced in the field of Rural Development, such as promotion of animal welfare and technical

assistance to farmers to meet European requirements. Furthermore, the rural development budget

is increased at the expense of a reduction in the direct payments to big agricultural enterprises

(European Commission 2008, 6).

Figure 8 New structure of the CAP after 2003 reform (European Commission 2008, 6)

The financing sources of the new CAP were a different fund for each pillar. For Pillar 1 it was created

the European Agricultural Fund for Guarantee (EAFG) and for Pillar 2, the European Agricultural

Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (European Commission 2004).


35

LEADER Axis in 2007-2013 Following the reform previously described, the Agricultural Council adopted the Regulation

1698/2005 of 20th September on support for rural development by the EAFRD.

This regulation sets the basis of the new Rural Development policy. The new rural development

policy keeps some elements from previous periods and introduces some innovations. In the first

case, the EU Development Policy continues offering to the countries different measures among

which they can choose for their rural development strategies. The main modification is a stronger

promotion of the strategic approach of the rural development plans and the sustainable

development (European Commission 2008, 8).

For the period 2007-2013, the policy is structured in three main objectives:

- “Improvement of the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry

- Improvement of environment and the countryside by supporting land management

- Improvement of the quality of life in rural areas and diversification of the economy.”

(Council of the European Union 2005, Art. 4)

Each one of these objectives constitutes a thematic axis, plus a methodological axis, LEADER axis.

Each axis must have a minimum share of the budget to ensure its operability. Member states can

choose among a number of pre-defined actions from each axis regarding their needs or strategy.

Thus, the countries have flexibility to adapt the rural development plans implemented in their

territory to their specific particularities, finding a balance between the sectoral (promotion of

agriculture) and the territorial components (land management and social and economic actions on

rural areas) of the policy (European Commission 2008, 8).

Figure 9 Structure of the Rural Development Policy after 2005 (European Commission 2008, 8)


36

In its fourth generation, LEADER methodology is mandatory in the rural development programmes

of each European region. The new development programmes should include a LEADER axis in order

to enhance the financing of the following actions:

- Development of LAPs by LAGs designed regarding the measures categorised in the three

thematic axes

- Transnational and inter-territorial cooperation projects managed by different LAGs

- Functioning cost of LAGs and technical assistance for the elaboration of LAPs in order to

achieve the stimulation of the area

(European Commission 2008, 16)

With the Decision of 12 September 2006, the Commission allocated the total budget for the period

2007-2013 for Rural Development at EUR 90,983 million. This amount includes the “modulation”,

that consists on the mandatory transfer from the pillar 1 (direct payment to farmers) to pillar 2.

Furthermore, the States have the possibility to transfer bigger amounts from pillar 1 to 2 up to 20%.

For the whole period the allocated budget for Spain was EUR 7,214 million.

Summing up, the rural development has evolved in the policy framework of the EU from being

slightly referred in the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to becoming an important policy. The evolution of

the policy made possible the creation of LEADER initiative in 1991 after some decades when the

necessity of having rural development initiatives that could go beyond the agricultural sector was

expressed in different forums. The Cork Declaration settled the principles that were about to inspire

the LEADER methodology till nowadays, principles like sustainable development, bottom-up or

integrated approach became key characteristics of the following rural development initiatives. The

satisfactory effects of LEADER and the demand among rural European regions provoked the launch

of LEADER II, which in Spain was complemented by PRODER I, following a similar design to LEADER

but giving more importance to the innovative character of the initiatives and better financially

endowed. The two initiatives were prolonged for the period 2000-2006 with LEADER+ and PRODER

II. With the reform of the CAP in 2003, which had been promoted in the Agenda 2000, the rural

development became part of the CAP as the “second pillar” and with an own financing fund (EAFRD).

Thus, the Rural Development Policy promoted to the same level as the Agriculture. Finally in the

period 2007-2013, the rural development system was reformed after the creation of the EAFRD with

the division of the working areas in three different axis, plus a methodological axis, LEADER axis.


37

4.2 Extremadura This sections presents the region case of study from a general point of view, including geographical

and historical characteristics, followed by a description of the economic structure and finally a

characterisation of rural areas.

General Information

Figure 10 Maps of Extremadura (Gobierno de Extremadura 2014 and 2010)

Extremadura is a Spanish region located in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering with

Portugal to the West, and the Spanish regions of Castile-Leon to the North, Castile-la Mancha to the

East and Andalusia to the South. The surface of the Region 41,634 km2 and has a population of

1,104,499 inhabitants (INE 2011).

Extremadura is divided in two provinces, Cáceres and Badajoz, with a population of 691,799 and

412,701 inhabitants respectively (INE 2011).

The regional capital is the city of Mérida (Badajoz) with about 58,971 inhabitants. However the main

two urban areas of the Region are the provincial capital, Badajoz and Cáceres. Badajoz with about

150,000 inhabitants is the biggest city of Extremadura and is located in the border with Portugal.

Cáceres is the second urban area with a population of 95,617 inhabitants. Other urban areas in the

Region are Plasencia in the North, the conurbation Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena in the East

and Almendralejo in the South (Llistosella 2003, 5867).

During the XX century, the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the subsequent Franco’s Dictatorship

(until 1975) had negative effects on the situation of the Region. A significant event during this period

was the enormous emigration provoked by the economic depression. During the 1960s and 1970s,

Extremadura lost 50% of its population, which migrated to more industrialised areas of the country

such as the Basque Country, Catalonia and Madrid; but also to industrialised European countries,

such as Germany, Switzerland and France. It is estimated that more than 800,000 people left the

region seeking better job opportunities and a better quality of life (Nieto 2007, 12).


38

After the end of the dictatorship, Extremadura was configured as one of the autonomous territorial

divisions planned in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In 1983, the Statute of Autonomy of

Extremadura was approved. The executive power of the Region is held by the Government or Junta

of Extremadura and the legislative by the Assembly of Extremadura. The region has wide legislative

and executive competences on several policy fields, such as agriculture, rural development and

health systems among many others (Assembly of Extremadura 2011, Art. 9, 15).

The geography of the territory is diverse, from the Central Meseta in the North that erodes gradually

to the South where the flatlands predominate. The climate is Mediterranean-Continental but with

some oceanic characteristics due to the lower altitude than the centre of the Peninsula and the lack

of mountain barriers to the West. Two important rivers cross the Region, Tagus in the province of

Cáceres and Guadiana in Badajoz. The main mountain chains are in the north the Central System,

the Central Extremaduran Sierras in the centre, and Sierra Morena in the South (Llistosella 2003,

5868).

The valley of Guadiana in the north of the province of Badajoz is one of the most productive

agricultural areas on the field of intensive fruit and vegetable growing due to an irrigation system

developed in the 1950s and 1960s. This initiative was part of the Plan Badajoz, which included as

well the restructure of the land ownership and the creation of several villages for the farmers that

colonised the area previously sparsely populated. Apart of this area, the region is covered

predominantly by dehesa (Rodríguez 2011).

The dehesa is a typology of landscape that is the consequence of human activity for centuries, it

combines forestry, agriculture and grazing in a sustainable mode functioning as an “extensive and

integrated agrosilvopastoral system”. This type of landscape is present in Extremadura as well as

other areas of the Iberian Peninsula nearby, mainly the Spanish provinces of Salamanca and Huelva,

and Alentejo and Algarve in Portugal. (Paleo 2010 , 149)

Extremadura is one of the European regions with the less damaged environment of the continent.

The biodiversity of the region is very important, being the home for several species in danger of

going extinct in other territories. Due to the relevance of its natural heritage, a third part of the

regional area is under some degree of protection. There are different categories of natural areas

such as the National Park of Monfragüe, the Natural Parks of Cornalvo and International Tagus or

the Red natura 2000 that includes an area of about 1,276,288 hectares (Senderos de Extremadura

2014).

Economy

Primary Sector In the last decades, the agriculture in Extremadura has suffered important transformations, due to

the rural exodus in the 1960s and 1970s, the Spanish accession to the European Union in 1986 and

the modernisation of the agricultural exploitations increasing the productivity as well as the incomes

of farmers. The 11% of the active population works in the primary sector (the Spanish average is

5%) that generates the 6,43% of the regional GDP (EURES 2016).


39

Currently the economy of the rural areas is more diversified including agricultural industry and

services. This phenomenon has been called the urbanisation of the rural areas (Valiente 2016, 1).

In the north, both irrigated and non-irrigated farming are present, while in the province of Badajoz

there are important areas of irrigated farming due to the construction of several reservoirs in the

basin of the river Guadiana. The forestry is mainly predominant in the north bordering with

Salamanca and in the South the vineyards are relevant. Besides that, the production is based on the

“Mediterranean Trilogy” (olive grove, vineyard and wheat). The production of olives is important

especially in the South-East and the cereals are cultivated in the dehesa areas (Llistosella 2003,

5868).

The livestock has been traditionally extensive and in recent years the presence of industrial intensive

livestock has become more important. In the last decades, the introduction of new techniques, such

as a better veterinary coverage of the herd and the selection of fodder has caused an important

raise of the production. The livestock activity is based on the following sectors: bovine (mainly for

meat production), porcine (Iberian pork must be highlighted), ovine (meat production and lately

oriented as well to milk production for manufacturing of traditional milk products at an industrial

level), goats (in mountainous areas) and poultry (raising activity in recent years) (Llistosella 2003,

5868).

Finally, less relevant activities within the primary sector must be highlighted, for instance apiculture,

fishery (Extremadura is the Spanish region with the largest internal coastal area and the touristic

fishery is quite relevant) and the forestry exploitation (mainly cork production associated to the

dehesa landscape) (Valiente 2016, 1-3).

Secondary Sector The industrial activity in Extremadura is limited and not very competitive. However the development

experienced by the Region during the last decades, the industry has not followed a similar evolution.

The main causes of this underdevelopment are:

- Geographic situation far away from the main urban areas of the country and the main

development axis.

- Lack of big urban areas in the region that has capacity of attracting industrial investment.

- Small market due to a dispersed and aging population in a big territory.

- Transport network characterized by being disjoined, and insufficient. However in the last

two decades a transport plan has been developed in Extremadura for a better connection

with the main Iberian urban centres and within the region.

(Valiente 2016, 4)

The 20% of the active population is employed in the sector and it produces the 21.5% of the regional

GDP (EURES 2016).

The most relevant industry is the food sector linked to the agriculture and the livestock. It is specially

concentrated in three agricultural axis, the North Corridor (linked to fruit agriculture and tobacco),

Vegas del Guadiana in the basin of Guadiana river (irrigated area with important production of


40

fruits, vegetables and cereals such as rice and corn) and the south segment of the North-South

corridor Via de la Plata (wine production).

The energy production is important with the nuclear plant of Almaraz in the north, several

hydroelectric power stations in dams along the basins of Guadiana and Tagus, and more recently

the photovoltaic solar energy. Extremadura generates the 12% of the Spanish energy production

consuming only the 1% (Valiente 2016, 4).

The construction, as in the rest of the country, raised during the decades of 1990 and 2000 until the

beginning of the economic crisis of 2008 when the real state bubble burst. Nevertheless, due to the

lower economic development of the region, neither the effect of the rise or the decline of the sector

were of the magnitude than in other areas of Spain.

Tertiary Sector The services sector was specially developed during the 1980s in Extremadura, later than in other

regions due to the lack of a previous industrialisation. Approximately, 60% of the active population

is employed in this sector and 72% of the GDP (EURES 2016).

On the field of transport there is a long way to go in order to achieve levels of connectivity similar

to other European regions. Thus, important investments have been done by the ERDF and the

Cohesion Fund over the last 30 years. The main limitation is the fact of being a sparsely populated

big territory. Nowadays two highways cross Extremadura, East-West connecting Merida and

Badajoz with Madrid and Lisbon, and North-South connecting with Seville to the South and to the

North till Gijón in the Northern coast of Spain. This is the same transport structure followed by the

Romans 2000 years ago. The train network is old and although the train fleet is quite renovated the

service is insufficient to ensure the working mobility between the different towns of the region.

There is an ongoing project of construction of a high speed train line connecting Madrid, Plasencia,

Cáceres, Mérida, Badajoz and Lisbon. Finally, at the only airport of the region, located in Badajoz,

the service is limited to weekly flights to Madrid and Barcelona (Nieto 2007, 165).

The trade of the region is predominantly external and wholesale due to the export of agricultural

products and products from the food industry (Valiente 2016, 5). The potential of the region on the

field of commercialisation of agricultural products and placing them in the markets is limited, due

to a sparsely populated vast territory. However, initiatives like the Association of Agricultural

Cooperatives that group 230 agricultural cooperatives have tried to improve this situation by

implementing a joint strategy in order to be more competitive in external markets (Cooperativas

Agroalimentarias Extremadura 2016).

The education and health services are provided mainly by the Government of Extremadura. The

region counts with a Public University founded in 1973 with faculties in Plasencia, Cáceres, Badajoz

and Mérida. There are nine public hospitals disseminated through the whole territory.

And finally the Tourism, the most rising sector in the last decades and with biggest potential. The

regional government has driven a strategy oriented towards the creation of quality touristic

infrastructure in order to enhance the appreciation of the Extremaduran resources. The cultural-


41

historic-artistic heritage formed by an important number of historical and monumental towns,

highlighting the two UNESCO World Heritage cities of Cáceres and Mérida. The rural tourism has

grown considerably in the last decades mainly in the areas of the north of the region attracting

visitors from other parts of Spain as well as internationals (Diputación de Badajoz 2016, 7-8).

Rural Extremadura: Characterisation and Rural Flight During the last decades, the economy of European states has developed towards sectors that

generate a bigger added value at the same time that sectors with a lower productivity or profitability

have been abandoned or transferred to third countries. It is the case of the agriculture.

As consequence of these changes, unbalances on the socio economic and demographic fields have

been generated. Furthermore, the processes of urban concentration of the population have driven

the investment to urban and industrialised areas. Thus, rural areas and concretely the agricultural

sector have suffered a severe decapitalisation (Gurria 2009, 83).

In Spain these changes took approximately three decades (1950-1980), which meant a breakdown

in the socio economic organisation of the rural regions. Since 1960 the agricultural sector has

followed a declining trajectory which was intensified with the implementation of the CAP in the

1980s. According to Gurria, the CAP has not been in some aspects beneficial for avoiding the

depopulation of rural areas, since some implemented measures have closed the agricultural sector

gateway to young people (Gurria 2009, 83, 97).

Due to the agricultural based economy of rural areas of Extremadura, the changes previously

described have led to emigration since there were not generated job alternatives for the workforce

surplus. While in the 1950s, the 75% of the active population was employed in the agriculture, at

the end of the century, this number did not reach the 15%. During those five decades the industry

has had a slight rising development and the services have changed from 15% in 1950 to 60% in 2000

(Gurria 2009, 83).

The Extremaduran rural areas have experienced an evolution towards a services based economy, as

other areas of the country, although the region still has double amount of active population within

the primary sector. The main difference with the rest of Spain is that in Extremadura were not

carried out industrial investments that could have meant an alternative to the workforce surplus

originating from the agriculture crisis. It has been intended as well, by the regional Authorities, to

combine the new services based economy with a Research and Development (R&D) based economy,

but it requires high qualified workforce and it is not a solution of the agricultural workforce surplus

that is mainly non-qualified (Gurria 2009, 84). Furthermore, the results of the new strategy for a

R&D based economy are questionable given that the last Qualified Population Report shows that

the unemployment rate within people with university degree studies was in 2015 16.07%, which

means higher than the Spanish rate (12.41%) and the European average (5.67%) (EAE Business

School 2016).

In 1950, one million people worked in the Extremaduran agriculture, in the 80’s they were 400,000

people and nowadays this number does not reach 150,000. In the last decades this number has

stabilised but workforce surplus remains being generated in the primary sector (Gurria 2009, 84).


42

Regarding the emigration, between 1950 and 1981, localities with less than 5,000 inhabitants

reduced a 43.3% their population and in the case of localities with a population smaller than 1,000

this reduction was of 53.1%. The maximum levels of emigration took place between 1960 and 1975,

during this period 800,000 people left Extremadura. 50,000 settled abroad (namely Germany,

Switzerland and France) and the rest opted to migrate to more industrialised Spanish regions

(Madrid, Catalonia and Basque Country). The economic crisis of 1973 supposed the deceleration of

this dynamic (Gurria 2009, 87).

Since 1980 the loss of rural population started to decelerate; localities with less than 5,000

inhabitants had a decline in its population of 5.5% and the ones smaller than 1,000 lost the 8.5% of

the population (Gurria 2009, 85).

This stability came in spite of the big pressure that agricultural workforce surplus has made towards

the limited local job market. As a consequence of this, the unemployment rate shoot up. In previous

decades, population that reached the age of work had chosen the emigration and therefore the

unemployment rate was never significant. It must be noted that an aging population with negative

growth rates has contributed as well to the reduction (Gurria 2009, 86).

A parallel phenomenon on the migratory field is the immigration experienced by the country during

approximately the first decade of the XXI century. If in 2000 923,879 foreign people lived in Spain,

in 2012, they were 5,736,258. Between 1998 and 2005, the foreign population rate of Extremadura

raised a 520% representing this population 2.34% of the total (far from the Spanish average at

8.46%). Therefore it can be stated that the influence of the immigration was in Extremadura not so

relevant like in other regions. This dynamic produced positive migration balance in the overall of

Extremadura, but the transfer of population from rural to urban areas, mainly the two provincial

capitals, was still persistent (García 2014, 4) (Gobierno de extremadura 2016, 38-39).

In more recent years the statistics show that Extremadura has suffered an important loss of

population having its origin in the crisis of 2008. The migratory balance has been negative since 2010

reaching the highest values in 2015 with a loss of 2,957 inhabitants who migrated to other Spanish

regions and 836 who migrated out of Spain (INE 2016 b) (INE 2016 c).

To have a precise vision of the population who has migrated abroad, it must be noted that in the

years following the beginning of the economic crisis of 2008, some of the immigrants who had come

during the previous decade returned to their countries of origin, for instance, in 2011 there was a

reduction of 3.07% of the foreign population settled in Extremadura (García 2014, 5).

The factors previously exposed and the stabilisation of the rural population provoked a strong rise

of the unemployment rate, becoming the most serious problem of the region. Many towns do not

have other significant economic activity than the declining agriculture. However, although the

massive rural flight had prevented this situation in previous decades, it cannot be considered the

emigration as a positive factor. In fact the massive rural exodus of the 1960s and 1970s supposed

the loss of essential economic and demographic activity (Gurria 2009, 94).

Until 1973 the unemployment did not exceed 3%, but since then it started to rise exponentially

when the cities slowed down offering job possibilities and the agricultural workforce surplus stated


43

in their areas of origin. In 1988 the highest unemployment rate in the century was reached at 25%

of the active population and since then it started to decline being in 2000 around 14%, one of the

highest in Spain but closer to the average than in the previous decade (Gurria 2009, 94).

In rural areas, the agricultural unemployment is considerably higher than in urban areas, 20% and

5% respectively.

The construction has been a crucial sector in the reduction of the rural unemployment, being this a

sector that can incorporate low qualified workforce. Since the integration in the EU (1986),

important investments have been carried out in the rural areas equipping them with roads and

social infrastructures (libraries, cultural centres, sport installations, etc.). Furthermore the

implemented housing policy made possible to access to a house by the young generations at lower

prices than the national average. However the bursting of the housing bubble produced the rise of

the unemployment since 2008 reaching the highest rate in 2013 with 35.67% and slightly declining

since then (in 2016 the unemployment rate is 29.13%) (INE 2016).

Since the 1990s, the incorporation of women to the working market has been gradual and it is

almost exclusively concentrated in the services sector. Rural women have been traditionally more

inclined to emigration than men (Gurria 2009, 96-97).

Finally, a relevant problem of unemployed people is the lack of qualification. In rural areas, the 85%

of unemployed people do not have higher studies than the primary school (Gurria 2009, 96-97).

Currently the GDP per capita in Extremadura is EUR 16,166, it has experienced a rising evolution (in

1995 was EUR 7,400) but it is still far away from the Spanish average (EUR 23,300). The

unemployment rate resulted from the last Active Population Survey (EPA) in 2016 is 29.1% (21%

Spanish average), but in the case of people younger than 25 is 48.5% (46.5% Spanish average) and

in younger than 20, 67.5% (64.1% Spanish average). These numbers mean favourable conditions for

emigration, especially of younger generations (INE 2016 d) (datosmacro.com 2016)

(datosmacro.com 2016 b).

Summing up, Extremadura, the region case study in this paper, is a Spanish region with lower levels

of development than Spanish and European averages, and a strong rural character. Within the

economy of the region, the agricultural activities and food industry linked to agricultural products

have special relevance in spite of the decrease of the primary sector in recent decades. The service

sector has become quite relevant and nowadays the 50% of the jobs are within it. The history of

Extremadura in the XX century is marked by the emigration. The modernisation of the agriculture

after 1950 generated a workforce surplus that migrated to industrialised areas. In the 1970s, the

economic crisis in the cities supposed the slowdown of the rural flight, generating high

unemployment rates in rural areas. In recent decades, different policy initiatives have failed when

trying to reduce the unemployment. Nowadays, the unemployment rate is very high and still higher

than the Spanish average, especially in rural areas; another indicators such as GDP per capita show

as well the underdevelopment of the region. Finally, the loss of population due to rural flight is still

present, but at lower levels than in the last century.


44

4.3 Implementation of Rural Development Initiatives in Extremadura In this section an overview of the implementation of the European rural development initiatives

LEADER and PRODER is presented, divided in four periods of action.

LEADER I (1991-1994) During the Implementation of LEADER I in Extremadura, four LAGs

were approved to develop their LAPs. These LAGs were La Serena,

Sierra de Gata, Comarca de Alcántara y Valle del Jerte.

The four areas encompass an area of 6,709 km2, 59 municipalities

and 97,357 inhabitants (9% of the population of Extremadura).

In LEADER I it was allowed to rural organisations, public or private

to manage a LEADER initiative without the requisite of being

constituted as LAG. The only requirement was to submit a

development plan on a concrete sector (rural tourism, SMEs

support, agricultural, etc.) and they received the denomination of

thematic LEADER. However in Extremadura there were not

applicants of this kind.

Normative framework:

- Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 of 19 December 1988, laying down provisions for

implementing Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards coordination of the activities of the

different Structural Funds between themselves and with the operations of the European

Investment Bank and the other existing financial instruments.

- Notice to Member States 91/C 73/14) laying down guidelines for integral global grants for

which the Member States are invited to submit proposals in the framework of a Community

initiative for rural development

Figure 11 LEADER I in Extremadura (REDEX 2016)


45

LEADER II and PRODER I (1994-1999) LEADER II was implemented through different stages. The initiative

was divided in three measures regarding the actions carried out by

the LAG.

- Measure a) – Acquiring skills

- Measure b) – Rural innovation programmes

- Measure c) – Transnational cooperation

- Measure d) – Networking

Measure a) was created in order to provide Technical assistance and

capacity building to those new LAGs from territories were the

previous LEADER phase had not been implemented. In Extremadura,

seven LAGs were appointed to carry out a territorial study and to

elaborate their LAP.

Measure b) was the tool for those advance LAGs that mainly had

financing needs for the implementation of an innovative rural

development action.

Measure c) was conceived for those LAGs with capacity enough to participate in transnational rural

development actions, an aspect that was pretended to be strengthened during this second phase

of LEADER.

Finally, measure d) provided financial resources to the LAGs of a territory in order to create a

network that could allow the knowledge and best practices exchange between different rural areas

(Commission of the European Communities 1994, Art. 9-14) (Nieto 2007, 48).

To be eligible, the applicant LAGs should belong to a European region objective 1 or 5b. Extremadura

was objective 1 since its GDP in 1994 was the 54% of the EU average (Nieto 2007, 48).

During 1995, the process of selection of LAGs was carried out, following the normative released by

the Commission and the regulation approved for Extremadura by the regional Department of

Agriculture. Six LAGs were selected within measure b) and c):

- ADISGATA (Sierra de Gata)

- Alcántara - ADECA

- ARJABOR (Campo Arañuelo, Jara and Ibores)

- Campiña Sur

- La Serena

- SOPRODEVAJE (Valle del Jerte)

In 1996, four new LAGs acceded to measures b) and c) after completing the process in measure a):

- ADESVAL (Valle del Alagón)

- ADICOMT (Miajadas-Trujillo)

- ADERCO (Olivenza)

Figure 12 LEADER II (orange) and PRODER I (blue) in Extremadura (REDEX 2016)


46

- Tentudía

These 10 LAGs represent 18,002 km2, 172 municipalities and 311,989 inhabitants.

The General Direction of Agricultural Structures of the Government of Extremadura elaborated the

Programme of Regional Development of Extremadura basing on the Innovation Programmes that

were approved in the ten LAGs. Furthermore, a Commission was created within the General

Direction in order to monitor, assist and report the activity of the LAGs.

At the national level, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries elaborated the Framework National

Plan with the purpose of grouping all the rural development initiatives in a common strategy. The

Ministry as well created an organism, called IRYDA, for the supervision and assessment during the

initiative’s implementation (Nieto 2007, 55-57).

The objectives of LEADER II were translated into six concrete actions:

- Promotion of the primary sector activities with biggest productive potential.

- Diversification of new agricultural systems

- Promotion and consolidation or the rural touristic sector, both historic-artistic and natural.

- Promotion of the manufacture, especially when related to the agriculture and craftwork.

- Promotion of the employment and training of less favoured social groups such as women,

young people, old people, etc.

- Connection with productive areas at a European or international level.

(Nieto 2007, 50)

The Initiative was co-financed by the European Funds (40%), National Administrations including

State, Regional and Local levels (27%), and private sector (34%).


- Notice to Member States 94/C 180/12 of 1 July 1994, laying down guidelines for global grants

or integrated operational programmes for which Member States are invited to submit

applications for assistance in the framework of a Community initiative for rural development

- Decision of the Commission (95) 1309/7 of 27 July 1995, regarding the financial assistance

approval to the Guidance section of European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund

(EAGGF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund

(FSE), for a global grant under the framework of the Community Initiative LEADER II in the

Autonomous Region of Extremadura, eligible territory within Objective 1 in Spain.

- Regulation of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce of 22 of July 1994, laying down

the rules for processing grants of the Initiative LEADER II.

PRODER, was a complementary rural development programme to LEADER II. The methodology of

the programme was similar to LEADER II and the requirements to LAGs followed the same scheme

as well. The Operative Programme of Extremadura, states that the main objective of PRODER I is to

find economic alternatives in the rural areas that, together with the traditional agricultural activities,

allow for improving the lifestyle and welfare of the population.


47

Twelve LAGs were selected in Extremadura, including the three rural areas that were awarded with

LEADER II measure a) and finally did not accede to measures c) or d):

- DIVA (Valle del Ambroz)

- ADICOVER (Vera)

- ADESCOVA (Valencia de Alcántara)

- Jerez –Sierra Suroeste

- ADECOM (Lácara)

- La Siberia

- APRODERVI (Villuercas)

- ADISMONTA (Sierra Montánchez – Tamuja)

- ADISA (Salor and Almonte)

- Sierra Grande – Río Matachel

- Zafra – Río Bodión

- ADIC (Hurdes)

This twelve LAGs encompass a territory of 13,034 km2, 139 municipalities and a population in 1995

of 273,829 inhabitants.

The implementation of PRODER I is structured in two levels, national and regional. On the national

level the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and on the Department of Agriculture and

Environment (Nieto 2007, 69-90).


- Decision of the Commission C (96) 1454, of 18 June 1996, regarding the financial assistance

approval to the Guidance section of European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund

(EAGGF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), for the Operative

Programme for Development and Economic Diversification of Rural Areas, that are

integrated in the Community Framework for Assistance to structural interventions in the

Objective 1 Spanish regions for the period 1994-1999.

- Regulation of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, of 23 September 1996, for the

establishment of application norms in Extremadura of the Programme of Development and

Diversification of Rural Areas.


48

LEADER+ and PRODER II (2000-2006) In LEADER+ all rural areas were eligible, therefore the Regional

Government defined the concept of Rural Area of Extremadura as all

areas excepting the two provincial capitals (Badajoz and Cáceres) and

the regional capital (Mérida) (Consejería de Agricultura y Medio

Ambiente 2001, Art. 2).

The Department of Agriculture and Environment had the role of

managing authority according to Article 9 of the Regulation CE

1260/1999. Among its functions are monitoring and channelling

funding (Consejería de Agricultura y Medio Ambiente 2001, Art. 8).

In 2003, due to a restructure of the regional Government, the

managing authority competences were transferred to the new

Department of Rural Development.

Ten LAGs were approved in Extremadura, the same that had been

awarded in LEADER II. The only change was the composition of one of the LAGs, Alcántara became

Tajo-Salor-Almonte including more municipalities (Nieto 2007, 104).

The area of implementation was 18,002 km2 and 172 municipalities where in 1995 lived 311,989

people.

The Initiative was co-financed by the European Funds (39.9%), State Administration (6.65%),

Regional Administration (6.65%) and private agents (40.15%). (Consejería de Agricultura y Medio

Ambiente 2001, 7)

Normative Framework:

- Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the

Structural Funds

- Commission Notice to the Member States of 14 April 2000 lying down guidelines for the

Community initiative for rural development (LEADER+)

- Decision of the Commission C (2001) 2159, of 5 September 2001, approving the regional

Community Initiative Programme for LEADER+ in the Autonomous region of Extremadura.

- Royal Decree 2/2002, of 11 January, laying down norms for the application of the Community

Initiative LEADER+ and the Programs of Endogenous Development, included in the Operative

Integrated Programmes and the Programmes of Rural Development (PRODER)

- Order of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of 1 October 2001, regulating the

public call for the selection of Rural Development Programmes in Extremadura under the

framework of the Community Initiative LEADER+ for the period 2000-2006

Figure 13 LEADER + (orange) and PRODER II (blue) in Extremadura (REDEX 2016)


49

PRODER II was the complementary programme to LEADER II following the experienced of PRODER

I.

The eligible criteria for LAG applications was the same as in LEADER+, being eligible all those rural

areas of Extremadura with the exception of the three capitals and those where a LEADER+ initiative

had been approved.

Fourteen LAGs were selected, being most of them coincident with the previous period, with the

modification in number of municipalities of Villuercas-Ibores, Barros Oeste-Sierra Grande, the

disappearance of Salor-Almonte (after its integration in LEADER+) and the selection of three new

LAGs: Mofragüe, Trasierra-Cáparra and Vegas Altas del Guadiana (Consejería de Agricultura y Medio

Ambiente 2001).

Thus, the area of implementation of PRODER II and LEADER+ comprised all the territory of

Extremadura with the exception of the cities of Badajoz, Cáceres and Mérida (that were not eligible),

as well as Plasencia.

The financing sources were the EAGGF (34.23%), State Administration (4.5%), Regional

Administration (11.14%) and the private initiative (50%) (Nieto 2007, 117).


- Council Regulation CE no 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 regarding the grants for rural

development of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)

- Council Regulation CE no 1260, of 21 June 1999, laying dawn the general guidelines about

Structural Funds

- Decision of the Commission of the European Communities C ES 16.1.P.O.010, of 29 December

2000, approving the Operative Integrated Programme for the Autonomous Region of

Extremadura

- Royal Decree 2/2002, of 11 January, regulating the application of the Community Initiative

LEADER PLUS and the Programmes of Endogenous Development of the LAGs, included in the

Operative Integrated Programmes of Rural Development (PRODER)

- Order of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of 27 December 2001, approving

the call for selection of candidate Local Action Groups to grants of the Program of Rural

Development of Extremadura under the framework of the Programme of Development and

Diversification of Rural Areas (PRODER II) for the period 2000-2006


50

LEADER 2007-2013 The last period of LEADER that has been completed is 2007-2013.

During this period as it is exposed in the Evolution section, the

structure is different and within a general Rural Development

Programme for the Autonomous Region of Extremadura, the

lines of action are categorised in three different axis. Each of the

axis must include a number of development actions following

LEADER methodology.

In this period, all LAGs of the region participated in LEADER.

Twenty four LAGs, which include all municipalities of the region

excepting the cities of Plasencia and the provincial and regional

capitals. (REDEX 2016 b)

Normative Framework:

- Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural

development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

- Law 45/2007, of 13 December, for the Sustainable Development of the rural environment.

- Decree of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development 6/2911, of 28 January,

regulating the system of grants under LEADER methodology and the management

procedure, for the programming period of 2007-2013

4.4 Results In this section, the results of the different programmes implemented in Extremadura using LEADER

methodology will be presented. Different authors have studied and analysed at national and

regional level the effects of rural development policies.

Over the last decades, Extremaduran rural areas have experienced an evolution on many fields,

from the generation of a more dynamic social and economic environment, the economic

diversification, the appreciation of natural and cultural resources and the implementation of the

concepts of integrated, sustainable and endogenous development. Furthermore, due to the

implementation of LEADER methodology, rural localities have acquired capacity for working

together on a supra-municipal level being able to carry out actions that independently the different

rural municipalities could not (Esparcia 2000).

However, all these changes cannot be presented as a result of LEADER initiatives. In fact, there are

other parallel factors that have contributed as well. First, the development of the cities and the

transport, mainly roads infrastructure, have allowed a certain level of working mobility which has

been helped to raise the job diversification of the rural areas. Nowadays, many people in

Figure 14 LAGs in Extremadura during LEADER 2007-2013 (REDEX 2016 b, 4)


51

Extremadura, especially those with high academic qualification, the ones working on the services

sector and employees at the regional Public Administration, travel daily to work to any of the

regional cities. This phenomenon has generated a new source of rents in the rural communities and

it has widened the diversification of the job market. Secondly, social benefits, such as the

agricultural rents and pensions, and agricultural subsidies, have contributed to settle the population

in the rural areas (Nieto 2014, 33-34).

The result is a very fragile demographic stabilisation in the short-term, which is actually regressive

due to the negative social growth result of an aging population. Therefore, the author Ana Nieto

talks about “Regressive Stability”. Nevertheless, the rural flight towards regional urban areas as well

as to other Spanish regions and abroad is persistent (Nieto 2014, 33-34) (INE 2016 b) (INE 2016 c).

Territorially, Extremadura has gone from 4 LAGs in 1991 to 24 currently. These LAGs cover the 90%

of the area of the region and the 70% of its population. All the municipalities but the four largest

cities are included in a Rural Development Plan. Since 1991, approximately EUR 443 million have

been invested in the region, co-financed by the European Funds (40%), National governments (15%,

including State, Region and Local levels) and an important participation of the private sector (44%)

(Nieto and Cárdenas 2015, 524-526).

The sectors in which most investment has been carried out is the Tourism, SME’s, craftwork and

commercialisation of agricultural products, with a share of 68% of the resources by nearly 9,000

projects (Nieto and Cárdenas 2015, 524-526).

LAGs have based their development strategies on the necessities of their area. In the beginning most

of the strategies were focused on rural tourism, which was seen as a way for the diversification of

the rural economy. Thus, In LEADER II and PRODER I, 25% of the investments was dedicated to

actions of appreciation of natural and historic-artistic resources. In following periods, the

investment on SMEs and agricultural products projects became more relevant. (Nieto and Cárdenas

2015, 524-526)

In 12 of the 24 LAGs significant results can be appreciated, turning around the negative trends that

were threating the area. However, in the case of the rest, the effects are not so relevant, what can

be consequence of its strong underdevelopment on the fields of economy and demography, and

other cases were the social and economic conditions were already favourable before the arrival of

LEADER and the effects cannot be perceived. Extremaduran rural development areas can be

classified in four groups:

- The areas that have presented the most relevant results are those where the LAGs have held

a more leading role, with a bigger participation of the private sector, local and regional

administrations (state and European institutions have participated in the same proportion

in all the areas). In these territories, the largest part of the investments have been done on

SMEs and appreciation and commercialisation of agricultural products, including agricultural

industry, with an important female participation. In these areas there was already certain

levels of commerce and industrial structure which made possible to channel LEADER and

PRODER funds to productive economic sectors in terms mainly of job creation. These areas


52

are located in the Basin of Guadiana River and/or present good environmental conditions

and better infrastructures most of them in the province of Badajoz.

- Areas under regressive social and economic conditions with strong structural

underdevelopment and adverse physical characteristics. In these areas most of the

resources were destined to the promotion of rural tourism and the results are not positive

since the negative structural conditions have not been affected. However it has been

observed that the rural touristic investment is less efficient on terms of productivity and job

creation than other activities. These areas are located in mountain zones of the region as

well as pen plain with limitations for the agricultural activity.

- Areas that 20 years ago presented a negative growth and economic depression have carried

out investments mainly on SMEs and appreciation of natural and cultural heritage. The

results have been the demographic stabilisation and the economic diversification. These are

areas situated in the periphery of the province of Badajoz and surroundings of the city of

Cáceres.

- Areas with a strong irrigated agricultural sector where investments have been done mostly

in appreciation of the agricultural production and tourism. However, in these areas that

already presented stability on the demographic field, the initiatives of rural development

have had very limited effects. These are the areas are located in Cáceres province and part

of the basin of Guadiana river.

(Nieto 2014)

There have been observed by some authors some limitations in the implementation of rural

development initiatives under LEADER methodology.

When in 1991 the first LEADER initiative was launched, it meant a “shock to the Spanish system”,

according to Javier Esparcia (2000). A first shock, because it was the first time that a policy was

designed to be implemented by local groups integrated by social, economic and institutional actors

of an area managing public resources. This is especially relevant when the role of these targeted

areas had been supplier of human and natural resources for the development of other territories

during the 1960s and 1970s. A second shock was the methodology based on concepts like territorial

approach and endogenous development which were new for the Spanish system (Esparcia 2000,

200-201).

Initially the LAGs were integrated mainly by institutional actors and the presence of other economic

and civil representatives was a minority. However, in later periods of LEADER and PRODER, the

presence of non-institutional actors has become more relevant, although there are some factors

that have interfered in the role of LAGs and therefore restricted the bottom-up approach (Esparcia

2000, 201).

Around the implementation of LEADER there are groups that had specific interests in the process.

It is the case of the Government of Spain, whose competences on rural development are managed

by the Ministry of Agriculture (and its different denominations in each cabinet). The Ministry of

Agriculture was in the 1990s in a period of identity crisis, as it is exposed in section 4.1.2, due to the

transfer of competences to the European and the regional levels. In this case, the Ministry created


53

PRODER as a complementary programme to LEADER II and a decentralisation process adopting

LEADER methodology in other fields of policy action (Esparcia 2000, 202).

At the second level, the regional administration. It must be noted that the Autonomous Region had

been constituted in 1983. The Government of Extremadura saw LEADER as a tool to make more

visible its influence in rural areas of the region and promote itself as a useful institution for the

region. Thus, the initiatives of rural development are carried out following a traditional top-down

dynamic, although the function of the regional authority is only coordinating the LAGs (Esparcia

2000, 203).

At the municipal level, as it has been previously explained, local authorities had in the beginning of

LEADER an over-representation in the LAGs. In fact, local authorities perceived the EU rural

development initiative as a source of financing (Esparcia 2000, 203).

During the first steps of LEADER the principles of endogenous, integrated and sustainable

development and the bottom-up approach were not backed by the authorities. All the procedures

of building up the LAG or elaborating the LAP were perceived by local actors as bureaucratic

formalities necessary for the access of European funding. LEADER was not seen as a tool for the

long-term strategy through participation and endogenous development due to a deficit of culture

of democratic participation. In later periods, the population has started to be aware of the benefits

that LEADER approach initiatives could bring to their territories and the participation has raised

(Esparcia 2000, 203).

Some of the LAGs focused on some concrete sector, breaking the territorial approach, or responded

to the interests of an institutional member of the territory. In these cases, the goal was the own

interest of a sector or institution instead of the development of the area (Esparcia 2000, 203).

The last agent implicated in the implementation of LEADER is the networks of rural development

created at national, regional and international level, that were conceived for the coordination and

cooperation between groups and other networks. However, some of these networks were

controlled by economic sectors (lobbies) or institutions that shifted their objectives towards their

strategic interest (Esparcia 2000, 203).

Thus, the first period of LEADER was dominated by projects that were presented by the LAGs

without any awareness of the principles that inspire the programme or the methodology to follow.

Most of these projects were not coherent in the plan, without having a connection between them.

Finally, all the process was led by the regional and local authorities seeking a propagandistic goal

more than the rural development of the areas.

It was in the second period, when some changes took place. The experts that formed the technical

staff of the LAGs were more prepared and had more information after the first period, the

awareness of the local population raised, some of the projects of LEADER I had positive effects and

the LAGs assumed a more relevant leading role. All these factors made possible the launch of LAPs

in Extremadura trying to get rid of the mistakes of the previous period (Esparcia 2000, 204).


54

Finally it must be remarked that in the study of the effect of LEADER, there is not a comparative

framework that could make possible a proper analysis. Due to this lack of framework, an area where

LEADER was not present at all, all studies will present problems of certainty in the identification of

the effects of LEADER approach implementation (Esparcia 2000, 206).

Summing up, Extremaduran rural areas have experienced certain levels of development over the

last decades. However, this is not fully consequence of LEADER approach initiatives, the increment

of working mobility between rural and urban areas and the social benefits have slowed down the

rural flight with the result of “regressive stability”. Nevertheless, the rural flight is still persistent in

Extremadura but at lower levels than the last century. The impact of LEADER and PRODER has been

heterogeneous between different rural areas, being possible to identify four typologies regarding

the effects of the initiatives. In general, during the first periods, the investments were mostly done

in rural tourism, evolving to investments in SMEs and agricultural-related industry in following

periods.

Javier Esparcia (2000) states that the arrival of LEADER in Spain was a shock due to the new concepts

of LAG, endogenous, sustainable and territorial development, etc. In the beginning, the process was

led by local authorities, which together with the lack of democratic culture, and the specific interests

of National, regional and local governments as well as lobbies and networks of rural development

meant serious difficulties for the implementation of the bottom-up approach. However, in following

periods, factors like the bigger awareness among the population and the expertise of LAGs’ technical

staff made possible a better implementation of the initiatives according to LEADER approach.


55

5. Analysis In this section, the analytical part of the paper, the theory will be tested over the case study in order

to support or reject the formulated hypotheses regarding the problem formulation. The theory that

is presented in this paper is the Theory of Webs, a theoretical approach based on the social network

theories that links the rural development to the development of the web of interconnections

between the different elements (social, natural, economic, etc.) that form a rural area. The object

of study in the European rural development policies and the case study focuses on the LEADER and

PRODER initiatives implemented in the Spanish region of Extremadura. The problem formulation

deals with the effectivity of these rural initiatives in relation with the rural flight: Why after more

than 20 years of European Rural Development policies in Extremadura the Rural flight has not been

stopped? The hypotheses that have been formulated at the end of the theoretical part are:

- The failure factor in the Rural Development programmes implemented in Extremadura is the

performance of the web.

- The rural web in Extremadura is not in evolution towards rural development.

- The lack of success of rural development actions in Extremadura is due to the lack of

implication of every dimension forming the web.

As it is explained in the theoretical part, the theory of webs links the development of a rural area to

the performance of the web. Therefore, the interconnections that take place between the elements

that form the web will determine the development of the area itself. The different rural activities

result of the relation man-nature are called by this theory co-production. Due to a series of

transformations of the rural areas, the reposition of the rural becomes necessary. Thus, in

Extremadura, after decades of agricultural changes generating big masses of workforce surplus and

the massive rural flight result of this, in the 1980s the reposition of the rural was set as a priority by

different institutions, given the state of changed man-nature relation and necessity of generation

of consumption activities that could incorporate this workforce surplus. The LEADER initiative is an

answer to this need of reposition of rural areas. The diversification of activities within the rural

becomes necessary in order to revitalise the web. The LEADER design addresses the parameters of

the theory of webs, the LAGs are the sum of societal, economic and institutional agents that

elaborate, manage and implement the rural development programme. An adequate performance

of the LAG (web) will generate good development initiatives, but in cases of LAGs that do not count

with the implication of all sectors of the society or are led by the particular interests of a concrete

actor the results will not be satisfactory in terms of rural development according to this theory. This

is the case that was experienced during the implementation of the first periods of LEADER and

PRODER, when these initiatives where perceived as simple sources of financing by local authorities

and other groups of interest, such as regional and national authorities, lobbies and the rural

development networks (Esparcia 2000). All together with the lack of an indispensable democratic

culture within the rural areas to cooperate in the development of the LAP, generated an inadequate

dynamic of the web, in fact because the LAGs did not represent the real rural area web.

Furthermore, this dynamic was not either suitable with the LEADER approach itself, since it is based

on the bottom-up and territorial principles among others.


56

Regarding the effectivity of the LEADER initiatives, Nieto (2014) characterises four different

typologies of rural area. This classification is based, according to the theory of webs, on the different

searches for repositioning the rural that have been carried out by the different territories. The effect

of LEADER initiatives will reflect the evolution of the web, therefore this typologies must not be

interpreted as static realities since rural areas are in constant evolution. Thus, a connection between

this characterisation and the five ideal types of rural region provided by the theory can be done.

a) Areas with strong LAG leading role, investment in SMEs and agricultural products industry

and commercialisation. Important female participation. This areas can be identified as New

rural areas where the agriculture as well as other diversified sectors follow a similar

evolution. However, there is not data that could confirm the presence of multifunctional

enterprises.

b) Areas with strong demographic and economic underdevelopment that are located in zones

with adverse conditions for the agricultural activity and where most of the investments have

been done in rural tourism with irrelevant results. This type can be connected to the concept

of Peripheral rural area that is characterised by the absence of relevant agriculture, rural

flight and impoverishment.

c) Areas that before LEADER presented negative demographic and economic conditions and

through investment in SME development and appreciation of touristic resources have

reverted their situation. Located in the surroundings of the city of Cáceres and province of

Badajoz, these areas might be identified as New suburbia, mainly due to the development

of new economic dynamics that have led to settle the population. In Extremadura, there are

not big urban agglomerations, although these areas are whether in the surrounding of a city

or well connected with urban areas.

d) Areas with a strong agriculture and good demographic and economic conditions that were

already present before LEADER and most of the investments have been done in rural tourism

and agricultural products transformation and commercialisation with irrelevant results. This

type meets the characteristics of Specialised rural areas, with strong agricultural activity

which is not connected to other economic activities in the area.

Thus, regarding the development of the web, the economic development of the rural area as well

as the migratory stabilisation is achieved or not. Areas like a) and c) follow positive dynamics in their

rural development, these areas present the characteristics of LEADER methodology such as bottom-

up, integrated rural development, innovative and diversified activities and sustainable

development. In the case of areas b), the fragile demographic and economic situation generate a

web with low density (few interconnections) and therefore the development of the rural area is

expected to be slower. Furthermore, the investments focused in rural tourism, which has been

proved that generates less jobs than other rural activities (Nieto and Cárdenas 2015). According to

dynamics of ideal rural regions (Figure 4) (Ploeg and Broekhuizen 2008, 5), and regarding the

difficulties for agriculture the bad connections with urban areas, the only possible evolution is

towards New rural areas, by finding a balance between agricultural activities that could be

introduced (maybe apiculture or forestry) besides to the introduction of new activities that could

evolve at the same time through the creation of multi-functional companies. In the case of regions


57

d) although presenting positive characteristics on demography and economy, there might be an

evolution toward New rural areas by investing in the diversification of the activities of agricultural

enterprises in order to avoid rural flight or attract new population.

The theory of webs identifies six different dimensions within a web. This six dimensions can be

perceived from a theoretical vision, and are based on the different elements that are present in a

rural web. All these dimensions can be identified in a rural web, although the big heterogeneity of

rural areas makes that the presence of the dimensions is can vary greatly from one web to another.

If applying to the reality of Extremadura, the six dimensions can be identified in the following way:

- Endogeneity, which addresses the origin of the resources, is quite relevant in Extremadura,

given that the main economic activities are based on agriculture (agriculture, food industry,

etc.). Furthermore, the region produces energy (hydro-electrical, solar and nuclear) and it is

rich in natural and cultural heritage that is economically exploited by the tourism. In this

regards, LEADER and PRODER have promoted the development of action within this areas

under the principle of endogenous development.

- Novelty production, which is another essential principle of LEADER approach, addresses the

innovation capacity of the web. The region has searched for innovative ways to improve the

economic and demographic conditions of the rural areas, it is the case of the development

of an economic model based on Development and Research, with limited results and that

cannot give an answer to the agricultural workforce surplus. Another innovation that have

resulted more effective is the development of touristic activity, both natural and cultural.

The tourism has been the most rising sector in the Extremaduran tertiary sector over the last

decades and an important part of LEADER and PRODER investments have been done on this

field. Nevertheless, the effectivity of this sector to generate jobs have been proved to be

limited.

- Sustainability, addresses the capacity of the economic model to restore resources and

survive over the time. In Extremadura, with an economic model based on traditional

agriculture techniques, the sustainability has been a strength. However in recent decades,

new models of agriculture and livestock have emerged, being less sustainable and changing

the relation of co-production man-nature. The food industry is the main activity within the

secondary sector, one of the most sustainable industries possible. The commerce based on

agricultural products and the rural tourism are as well sustainable activities able to

regenerate fast the resources. Finally, the production of sustainable energy must be

mentioned. LEADER initiatives have promoted the sustainability of the action that have been

developed in the region.

- Social capital addresses the capacity of a web to cooperate in order to reach common goals.

In the results section the evolution of the LAGs is described, being first led by public

authorities due to the lack of democratic culture, and then evolving towards more authentic

LAGs guided by the principles of bottom-up design, territorial approach and endogenous

development.

- Institutional arrangements, that addresses the normative framework within the web

develops, can be identified in Extremadura in the regional Government holding the role of


58

managing authority in the LEADER initiatives and local authorities that have a relevant role

in the LAGs.

- Governance of markets is the competence to place product in the market monetise them.

Although the commercialisation of agricultural product is an important economic activity in

Extremadura, the sparsely populated character is an obstacle to place products in external

markets following common strategies, although there have been developed some initiatives.

After this identification of the dimensions of the web in the context of Extremadura, it can be seen

that LEADER approach programmes have focused predominantly some of these dimensions without

taking into account others. Dimensions like novelty production and governance of markets have

received less attention from LEADER rural development initiatives. According the theory of webs, a

development initiative can only be successful if implies all dimensions, otherwise the results are

limited, which is the case of many development actions carried out in Extremadura under the

framework of LEADER initiatives.


59

6. Conclusions This paper has tried to identify the reasons of the lack of effectiveness of European rural

development policies in the Spanish region of Extremadura. In order to delimitate the case of study,

the LEADER and PRODER development initiatives between the creation of LEADER in 1991 till 2013

have been chosen. The scope has been set on the rural flight as a factor of relevance for the rural

development.

In the analytical section, the theory of webs has been tested over the case study in order to prove

or reject the hypotheses that were formulated in the theoretical part. Following, the main

conclusions of this analysis are exposed.

The performance of the LAGs (web), especially during the first periods of implementation, was

inadequate with a wrong application of LEADER methodology due to a lack of democratic culture

among the population, the utilisation of LEADER initiatives as financing source to attend specific

interests of groups, which affects the principle of integrated development, and the excessive

implication of local authorities altering the bottom-up model.

Regarding the typology of ideal rural areas given by the theory of webs, it can be stated that some

of the Extremaduran rural areas have performed better than others, the degree of rural

development have been demarcated by the development of the web in each case. However, the

webs are in constant evolution and cannot be perceived as static realities, the theory of webs

provides solutions for the development of the less favoured areas and the evolution that might

follow.

Regarding the six dimensions of a rural web that the theory of webs enumerates, there can be seen

as some of the dimensions have not received so much attention by LEADER and PRODER initiatives

like others, concretely novelty production and governance of markets that address innovation and

commercialisation of products. Thus, the initiatives have not been fully successful.

In conclusion, the development of Extremadura between 1991 and 2013 is undeniable. The region

has experienced a relevant evolution in terms of rural development that have resulted in an

improvement of the quality of life and some economic parameters such as GDP per capita or

economic growth. However, nowadays the levels of unemployment are very high, especially among

young population, as well as the rural flight, which has experienced an important slowdown but is

still persistent. After this research, the answer to the problem that was formulated initially (Why

after more than 20 years of European Rural Development policies in Extremadura the Rural flight

has not been stopped?) is that the rural flight has not been stopped in Extremadura because the

rural initiatives LEADER and PRODER, especially in the first periods, were implemented without

following the main methodological principles of these initiatives and therefore the performance of

the web was inadequate. Secondly, the low degree development of some rural areas after the

implementation of LEADER and PRODER is the result of the low development of the web. Finally,

the focus of LEADER and PRODER initiatives has been set on some dimensions of the web rather

than others, such as the innovation and the commercialisation of products, and therefore the results

have been limited.


60

6.1 Perspectivation This research has analysed the performance of European rural development policies in

Extremadura. In this case the scope has been set on the rural development programmes LEADER

and PRODER, but a similar research could have been done regarding the CAP as well as other rural

development initiatives carried out at the European, national and local levels. Furthermore, the

LEADER initiative is being implemented currently under the framework of the Rural development

programme for Extremadura for the period 2014-2020.

A similar research design can be used to analyse the rural development policies carried out in other

European rural regions.

An alternative theory has been presented, the theory of integrated rural development, which could

have been applied to the case study as well. In that theory, the rural development policy is

understood as the cooperation of two levels, central bureaucratic (top-down) and local heuristic

bottom-up).


61

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European Rural Development Policies in Extremadura · European rural development policies in Extremadura Francisco José Malavé Tosina 2 Abstract This paper explores the efficiency